A 7-year-old boy was left unattended on Long Island school bus outside the driver's home. His mom wants answers.
A Long Island mother wants answers and a personal apology after her first grader was left on a school bus alone for nearly a half hour.
The 7-year-old's emergency cellphone helped locate him.
"He goes, 'Mom, I'm on a bus by myself, and the bus driver and all the kids are gone.' I said 'What?'" mother Natalie Sellars said.
"I called 911 right away"
Sellars said her daily afterschool call to her son from work prompted panic.
The driver drove past the regular stop where the babysitter was waiting, and her child ended up alone at the end of the route.
"He put his video on, and said, 'Look mommy.' Thank God he knows how to do that, because me and his dad trained him," Sellars said. "All I see is the baseball field and I started to freak out ... I blacked out. I started crying, and I called 911 right away."
Staff at her son's elementary school in Uniondale suggested the bus driver may have gone home. That's where Sellars found the bus with her son still on board -- in front of the driver's house.
"I don't get it. It's not like my son fell asleep, was lying down. He's sitting up," Sellars said.
The incident happened in June. In the months since, Sellars says she has not received an apology from the bus company or driver. His only explanation was he had to use the bathroom.
"How long does it take to use the bathroom?" Sellars said. "You don't have any compassion. You left a kid on a bus. How many times have you done this?"
Bus company apologizes
Guardian, the bus company, issued a statement to CBS News New York, in which it apologized for the incident.
"We sincerely apologize. We have a zero-tolerance policy for a child left behind. It shouldn't happen. The driver was terminated immediately following the incident," the company said.
Sellars has asked for, and not yet seen, dash cam video of the incident.
New York law requires school bus drivers to physically check the bus for children at the end of every route, and all buses must have a child check reminder system installed.
Sellars says her son will no longer get on a bus.
"It's totally heartbreaking. Knowing how my son normally is, and for some, unfortunately, situation to have for the way he feels about a bus, it's sad. He's only 7 years old," Sellars said.
Guardian said the bus driver, who was not new to the job, failed to do his required bus check.
In a statement, Uniondale Union Free School District Superintendent Monique Darrisaw-Akil said the district cannot discuss specifics of Sellars' case.
"However, what we can say is that the district took immediate action to ensure the bus driver in question was removed from all future Uniondale School District bus routes," Darrisaw-Akil said. "Additionally, all district protocols and procedures were followed in terms of responding to the child's and the family's concerns and needs subsequent to the incident."