Mom: Bus driver abandoned 5-year-old at bus stop

ATLANTA, Ga. — A local mother says an Atlanta Public School bus driver went against procedure and left her 5-year-old son alone at his bus stop.

The mother says a Good Samaritan on Northwest Drive saw the boy crying on the side of the road and drove him back to Scott Elementary.

Melody Daniels says things could have gone much worse.

"I don't know what could have happened," she said. "He could be missing. I could be looking for him now."

Daniels says she was late because she was rushing to the stop and got pulled over.

Her son Geavoni says once he was off of his bus at Northwest Drive and realized he was alone, he could only cry.

"I didn't know which way the school was," he said.

Daniels says she's thankful for the woman who stopped and helped.

"All I could do is cry too," said Daniels. "Me and my son held each other. We cried together."

Still, she says the bus driver allowing her 5-year-old son to walk off the bus is against APS bus stop procedure.

"At the beginning of the year they let me know they would not let him off the bus if the parents were not there," she said.

The procedure states that children under age 8 "should never be left alone, even for short periods of time."

The children are supposed to be taken back to school.

"The safety and security of our children remains our top priority," wrote an APS spokesperson. "The school district is investigating this matter."

Daniels said she got a call from the transportation department Tuesday morning.

"She did let me know that they're going to go over training again with the bus driver...that he's a new bus driver," she said.

"This could have happened to anybody's child. I'm just hoping that this doesn't happen from this point on."

WSBTV