Milwaukee boy with Down syndrome left on bus, driver gets probation
Nick, boy with Down syndrome left on bus
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee bus driver has been sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor child neglect.
Travita Terry, 39, was accused of leaving a boy unattended on her bus in January. The boy never made it to school and was eventually found near Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.
Terry was initially charged with felony child neglect. She pleaded guilty to the amended misdemeanor count on April 25.
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According to a criminal complaint, Deborah Smith watcher her son, Nick, get on the bus like he always does around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 12. The 15-year-old has Down syndrome and receives door-to-door bus rides to Riverside High School. Ninety minutes later, Nick's teacher sent Smith a text saying Nick never made it to class.
The principal of the high school reviewed surveillance video that showed Nick did not get off the school bus that morning when it arrived at 8:03 a.m.
Riverside University High School
Police contacted the manager for the Wisconsin Central Bus Company, and Terry was identified as the bus driver. Terry said Nick had gotten off the bus at school, that he was the third child to exit the bus, and that she checked all the seats for any children after drop off. A short time later, police were dispatched to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino for the report of a child that was dropped off at the location and lost.
Potawatomi's surveillance footage showed the yellow school bus parking on West Potawatomi Circle around 8:20 a.m. Terry was seen getting off the bus at 8:24 a.m – and at 9:08 a.m. Nick was seen getting off the bus and walking around the circle and on the street.
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Nick said that he fell asleep on the bus and when he woke up around 9 a.m., the bus was parked outside Potawatomi Hotel & Casino with no one else on board.
"He said, ‘She left me, and she never came back,’" said Smith.
A Good Samaritan saw Nick, called police and stayed with him until officers arrived.