Driver & Attendent to be Sentenced for Leaving Child on Bus
On August 11, 2005, then 5-year-old Justin Kauffman was left on a bus in a bus depot for several hours; due to the heat, he became dehydrated. Justin, who has an “autism-like disorder,” had not gotten off his schoolbus when it stopped at the Marlboro Early Learning Center (NJ) and neither Judith Eckel, 49, and Cynthia Pekarchik, 31—-the bus driver and the attendent noticed. As reported in today’s Asbury Park Press both Eckel and Pekarchik each pleaded guilty to a single count of child endangerment in December; they are to be sentenced on February 16th.
Sadly, I have written before about a similar incident in which an autistic child was left on a bus for several hours, due to the driver’s and the attendent’s not “noticing” that he or she was still on it.
Just. Not. Good.
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POSTED IN: Schoolbus
4 opinions for Driver & Attendent to be Sentenced for Leaving Child on Bus
mika
Feb 2, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Justice is served…
I hope this will serve as an example..
Eileen
Oct 2, 2007 at 11:24 am
Bravo my 4 yr old with autism was left on the school bus for 2 hrs. and the police didnt even want me to make out a complant they said it was an accident . I wish I would have followed throw and had the driver arsted instead of just fired.
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Jan 19, 2008 at 2:14 pm
[…] at the window.) Occasional reports of special needs children left on schoolbuses for hours (in the heat of summer or the cold of winter) can only add to parental concerns. And parents of autistic adults have been […]
How Can I Talk if My Lips Don’t Move?: New Book by Tito Mukhopadhyay
Jan 19, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[…] at the window.) Occasional reports of special needs children left on schoolbuses for hours (in the heat of summer or the cold of winter) can only add to parental concerns. And parents of autistic adults have been […]
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