Woman says 8-year-old son was left on school bus 10 hours
DETROIT (WJBK) - Eight-year-old Trayshon was supposed to get off his school bus last Friday - but never arrived in class.
His mother says he fell asleep in the seat and spent the next 10 hours cold and alone.
"He sat on that bus for 10 hours - nothing to eat, nothing to drink, no means of going to the bathroom," his mom Joann Haywood said.
It is a parent's nightmare scenario, and one that Haywood says was preventable.
"Had she cleared the bus and followed proper protocol she would have found my son at the back of the bus," she said. "And he wouldn't have had to sit there."
It started like a normal, busy morning at their east side Detroit home. Haywood's three kids including 8-year-old Trayshon, got on the bus headed for Blackwell Elementary.
Then Trayshon fell asleep.
"Since she's the bus driver, once she leaves my home she is responsible for my child," Haywood said.
The bus apparently had some kind of mechanical issue. So after it unloaded, the driver headed to the DHT Transportation bus yard. Trayshon was still curled up in one of the seats.
"She was supposed to clear the bus and make sure all the kids were off the bus, but she didn't do that," Haywood said.
Trayshon is extremely shy and when FOX 2 met him, he barely poked his head out of his jacket.
"He said 'Mommy I was scared and I just sat there really quiet,'" Haywood said.
His mother says she never even got a call he wasn't at school that day. It wasn't until police got involved, they were able to find him at the bus yard around 7 p.m. that night.
"That was like relief for any parent out here," she said. "I never knew how it felt. But not to know where your child is, at any time, is the worst feeling a mother could possibly go through."
She was told the driver won't be picking up her kids anymore but doesn't know if the driver was fired. Haywood says what happened is criminal.
"She should be fired and prosecuted," she said. "Because as a parent if it was me I would be prosecuted."
FOX 2 did not get comment from Detroit Public Schools and DHT Transportation in time for this story.
Haywood says let her story be a warning to other parents.
"They need to hire people who have our kid’s safety as their main concern," she said.
WEB UPDATE: The Detroit Public School Community District has issued a statement that the driver will not be used by the bus company contractor any further.