Girl, 5, dropped off alone in wrong spot; bus driver removed from routes

PITTSBURGH — A five-year-old King Elementary School student wasn’t even supposed to be on the school bus Thursday, so you can imagine how surprised her mother was when she found out her daughter was let off the school bus by herself on Federal Street on the North Side.

The grandmother of a King Elementary School Student is grateful her granddaughter is OK after her ordeal at dismissal Thursday.

“She could’ve gotten hit by a car; somebody could’ve snatched her up - anything could’ve happened to her,” Percita Ford said.

It was her first day of Kindergarten, and she was never supposed to be on the bus.

“My daughter dropped her off and told the school that she would be picked up by the daycare. And then she called the school and let them know just to verify that she would be picked up by the daycare, but that didn’t happen; they put her on the bus,” Ford explained.

While she was on the bus, the driver was notified the 5-year-old shouldn’t be on board and to take her back to King Elementary.

Instead, he dropped her off along Federal Street when the child told the driver her mother worked there.

“You don’t listen to a 5-year-old, especially when we got the notice saying that if you’re not at the bus stop they will be brought back to the school. That’s what should’ve happened,” Ford said.

Witnesses say the little girl first ran into a beer distributor before crossing Federal Street and telling a security guard she needed help.

“She went in, and she was describing her mom and telling him her name, and they let her - I guess whoever was there let her walk back out crying, and then whoever knew my daughter ran and got my daughter, and she ran up to get her baby,” Ford said.

Today, Pittsburgh Public Schools told Channel 11 in a statement, “Following an investigation into the incident, the driver involved has been removed from all Pittsburgh Public Schools routes.”

“I think he should’ve been fired. Yes. Because why would you let her off on Federal Street without an adult there? Without anybody to pick her up?” Ford said.

Fortunately, the 5-year-old wasn’t hurt.

Channel 11 reached out to Cushman and Wakefield, which manages the security guards for the building where the little girl ran for help, but has not heard back.

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