Florida family says 45-minute school bus ride turned into 3-hour ordeal for autistic boy
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(MyFoxOrlando.com)
A Florida family says their 4-year-old autistic boy was left on a school bus for three hours two weeks ago -- on the first day of school, MyFoxOrlando.com reported.
"These are special-needs kids," said Chris-Anne Barclay, Chance Barclay's mom. "Our child would never be able to say you missed my stop, or this is where I'm supposed to go."
According to Lake County Public Schools, there was a substitute bus driver and he got lost.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I know what you are saying, three hours is a long time. It's very unacceptable; we want to correct that as quick as possible," said Christopher Patton, spokesperson with Lake County Public Schools. "But the whole bus route is about 45 minutes and he's the last kid to be dropped off, so what you're looking at is about an hour and a half."
The boy's mother said her son was hysterically crying and apparently had to use a restroom. The family and its lawyer made a request for the video from inside the bus.
"What we are going to do next is we are going to move to make sure these things don't happen again," Christopher Largey, the family's attorney, said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lake County Public Schools, however, says the family cannot see the tape because of a state statute that protects the other children who were on the bus. They say they viewed the tape and Chance Barclay was never in any danger and the bus driver will not face any consequences.
Largey told FoxNews.com that he is not satisfied with the school's response and demands access to the video tape.
"If they want to protect the identity of the students on the bus, let us see the video when it was him alone on board," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Largey said the family is going to wait for the investigation before determining whether to take any legal action.