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Feb 12, 2009 8:26 am US/Central
FW Boy Told To Get Off School Bus
13-Year-Old Forced Off School Bus, Walks To Police Department For Directions To School
Selena Hernandez
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Latonia Luna sought legal council on Wednesday and was shaken by her son's story earlier in the week.
She said her son Christopher spent the night at a friend's house and thought nothing of jumping on board a school bus to head to Prairie Vista Middle School on Monday morning.
The 13-year-old, however, said he was told to get off the bus because he was not a listed passenger.
"Naturally, I was shocked, angry and scared," the mother said.
According to the police report, the bus driver notified the dispatcher who demanded the child exit the bus.
Officials say it's a policy enforced by Petermann, Ltd., an Ohio-based transportation company that contracts with Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD.
The family said the boy even told the bus driver the route he normally takes.
The dispatcher threatened to call police when the boy refused to leave, reports show.
"They basically intimidated him and he got off the bus," the mother explained. "Without a ride and in unfamiliar territory, Christopher ended up walking about two miles on that chilly morning until he got here the Saginaw Police Department."
Kimberly Allison with the Saginaw Police Department said the boy "didn't say anything at all," but he wanted to know directions to the school.
A keen clerk noticed the boy was on foot and quickly alerted an officer, Allison said.
The boy picked up the boy and took him to school. He made it to class about 9:30 a.m.
"We're working it out day by day," his mother says. "He's getting better, but it's still fresh."
Luna doesn't want what happened to her son to happen to another child and neither does the school district.
"We reinforced our expectation to them that this was completely unacceptable," Kristen Escovedo with the Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD said of the incident.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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