Special Needs Boy Trapped On Bus Twice (Video)

LAKE WALES, FL — Two Polk County School employees face criminal charges after deputies say they left a sleeping special needs boy trapped on a school bus not once, but twice.

The case against bus driver Gale Brown, 51, of Lake Wales and attendant Gwendolyn Simmons, 57, of Lake Wales began to unfold March 2. On that day, Polk County Sheriff’s deputies say the 13-year-old boy was sleeping in the sixth seat from the rear of the bus on the driver’s side when the vehicle pulled up to Our Children’s Academy in Lake Wales.

All of the children – except the boy – got off the bus, the sheriff's office said.

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“Simmons walked up to the front of the bus, not noticing the victim was still in his seat, sleeping,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a media release. Brown then drove the bus to Mobley Street, parked, and she and Simmons got off “without checking to ensure the bus was empty,” the sheriff’s office said.

A bus surveillance video footage shows the boy waking up 15 minutes later. Not sure how to get out, the boy used the driver’s side emergency exit window. He then proceeded to hitchhike and walk about 30 miles to his home in Davenport, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies say lessons were not learned that day. A similar story played out again on March 8, but that time the boy forced the bus door open before hitchhiking and walking home.

Complicating matters for Simmons and Brown, the sheriff’s office said, is the fact the bus has its own onboard “child reminder system.” That system requires the driver or attendant to shut it off after a run to ensure that the vehicle has been checked for any straggling children. The alarm is located in the back of the bus.

On both occasions, Brown and Simmons told deputies they had a student deactivate the alarm before they pulled into the school. They also “admitted that they did not check the bus for students before leaving it parked all day.”

Neither woman, the sheriff’s office said, was aware of the boy being left behind when the bus was parked. Ignorance of the sleeping child, however, was not enough to keep them out of hot water. Both women now face two counts of child neglect. They were charged on Wednesday.

“This is absolutely outrageous,” Sheriff Grady Judd said following the arrests. “The Polk County School Board is committed to keeping our children safe, equipping school buses with the latest technology to ensure children are not left behind. These two suspects completely disregarded all safety measures, and neglected a 13-year-old special needs student - there is absolutely no excuse for this type of behavior."

Booking photos of Brown and Simmons courtesy of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office

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