'I was asking strangers for help,' 7-year-old Dorchester boy terrified after school bus leaves him stranded
DORCHESTER - A Dorchester boy was terrified and desperate to get home safely after his school bus left him stranded Thursday. "I was so scared. I was asking strangers for help," 7-year old Carmelo Ingram told WBZ-TV.
Ingram was forced to make the half-mile walk home unsupervised after his bus from the Henderson School dropped him off well before his usual stop.
"I'm angry. I'm frustrated. I was concerned because anything could've happened to him," his mother, Christina Ingram said. "He could've been kidnapped. He could've been hit by a car."
The boy was headed home from school and told his mother a substitute bus driver was at the wheel. "He said the driver said, 'no, no, no, this is your stop. Get off now,'" said the boy's mom.
It was about a half-mile walk home for the young boy, dodging cars along busy Dorchester Avenue.
"I had to tell a car, stop, stop, stop and I was at the edge of the street," the 7-year old explained.
Carmelo even asked strangers for directions, but no one helped him.
His mother is glad her son made it home safely by recognizing a gas station and convenience store on his walk. Ingram is now asking Boston Public Schools to take accountability, responsibility and to answer how this happened.
"The school said 'Ms. Ingram, we don't know what happened,'" she explained. "'It looks like the kids were dropped off at the wrong stop. I don't know how this happened. We're sorry. We're going to wait until we hear back from the school department.' We haven't heard anything back yet."
Ingram said she doesn't trust the school bus system anymore.
"Contact us," Ingram said. "It's all about communication."
Her son is a bit more forgiving.
"I would give them another chance because it was an accident," Ingram said.
In a statement to WBZ-TV Friday night, BPS called the incident "unacceptable."
"Boston Public Schools takes our responsibility to transport our students safely very seriously. What happened is unacceptable. When the BPS Department of Transportation was notified about this matter, the driver was removed from service pending investigation."
