Mother claims child left alone on school bus

MALDEN, Mass. (WHDH) -- A Malden mother claims her 4-year-old daughter was left on board a school bus after the child fell asleep.

Two weeks ago, Christie Dalton put her daughter, Angelique, on the morning school bus as she usually does.

“About 11:00 there was a cop knocking at my door with my daughter in his hands asking me if this is my daughter, I said, ‘Yes, it is,’ I was like, ‘But she should be in school right now,’” Dalton said.

The officer told Dalton a Good Samaritan found Angelique wandering a gas station on busy Eastern Avenue in Malden.

Dalton says she believes her daughter, who is developmentally delayed, fell asleep on the bus and was left behind.

“She started screaming on the bus and she opened the doors and walked down the street. She also said the bus driver wasn’t on the bus,” Dalton said.

The owner of the Malden bus company declined to appear on camera. He said he talked to the bus driver who insists that she dropped the girl off at school.

Malden police say they are no longer investigating. According to their report, Angelique said she got on the bus and then got off the bus at school, but she said she wanted to go for a walk.

The school superintendent says surveillance video shows children on Angelique’s bus arriving, but not Angelique.

“The bus is off camera…What you do see is the monitors go out, take the students and walk them in. And as they were walking them in, we did not see the girl come in with us,” said Dr. David Deruosi, Superintendent of Malden Public Schools.

“I’m just disappointed because – and angry too at the same time – how can you leave a 4-year-old child on a bus?” Dalton said.

Dalton says she wants to see the bus company and the driver disciplined. She also said she is planning to sue the company.