Special needs adult left alone on bus for hours in bitter cold

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A special needs adult is left alone for hours in the freezing cold aboard a bus - now his family wants answers. 

The driver parked the bus for the night, shut it down, turned the lights off and locked up. But in the very last row was 45-year-old Scotty who has autism. He was left behind for more than three hours alone in the bitter cold. 

"It’s horrific, the what-if is horrific," said his mother Denise Blunt. "You hear these stories; you never expect them to happen to you. He likes to ride in the back of the bus."

The "what-ifs" have Blunt still angry days after her son was left and forgotten about on a bus.

"Someone just did not do their job," she said.

Denise Blunt's son Scotty has been involved in a work-program at the Adult Well-Being Services on Detroit's east side.

"It gives himself gratification, the fact that he is going to a job with his name tag on," Blunt said.

They provide busing services for people like Scotty which usually runs smoothly - until last week when somehow the driver of the bus he was on, didn't notice him when he parked it here for the night and locked up, leaving Scotty inside alone.

"They get into their cars, they went home for the evening, locked the bus up and are home with their families," Blunt said. 

That night - temperatures were below zero. Blunt was able to track her son down but it took three hours, he was on that bus alone the whole time. 

"I can only imagine what he was thinking," Blunt said. "I know how I would be thinking. I would have been scared to death."

The bus driver who overlooked him drove Scotty Home in his personal car and felt horrible says Blunt. He was later fired by Adult Well-Being Services.

A spokesperson with the facility disputes the amount of time Scotty was left on the bus, but said they are implementing stricter protocol for their drivers moving forward.

"This could have all been avoided if someone would have just checked off on their list," Blunt said.