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Autistic 12-year-old dropped off at wrong stop
Only on FOX, a father is relieved to be reunited with his 12-year-old autistic son who he says was dropped off at the wrong bus stop by a substitute driver. FOX 26's Leslie DelasBour spoke with the upset father.
HOUSTON - One 12-year-old boy didn’t meet his dad after school last Wednesday, leaving both frantic
"At this point, I think my son has been trafficked. He just went into a car with someone else and I am losing my mind. I’m terrified. I don’t know if I am going to ever see my son again," said Christopher Spellman.
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Christopher Spellman is a father and a teacher who meets his 12-year-old son, Kian, who attends Lawson Middle School, out in front of the bus stop at Hobby Elementary every day.
"They can be a little late. Nothing big, but we were waiting for 20 minutes and I heard nothing," Spellman said.
Spellman then called HISD transportation who told him they were running late. He decided to go pick up Kian from Lawson Middle School and spoke with the front office.
"They radioed it ahead, let them know that you’re coming. He will not get on the bus. I arrived and my son is not there," Spellman said. "There’s been no bus, they are delayed. I go back and forth six times driving from Lawson to Hobby. Where is my son? You’re supposed to have my son. I get there, and they say well they are running 30 minutes behind. Well, now it’s been an hour and my son - we are supposed to be having dinner together, and you have no idea who my son is with and where he is at? I get back here, and I call transportation again, and they say oh he’s been dropped off. Where?"
Kian was dropped off at White Heather and Wuthering Heights, not far from Hobby Elementary, because he told the substitute bus driver that day he saw his dads car passing by.
"He’s a 12-year-old autistic child with no phone, just walking down a busy street," said Spellman.
However, Kia ended about a mile from the wrong drop-off location, walking along Buffalo Speedway near West Orem.
Crying and upset, he waved down another bus driver – who received notice about a missing child through HISD transportation
"Finally, transportation says we found him. Not we have him, we found him. Oh, we saw him walking down Buffalo Speedway," said Spellman "When he finally gets off the bus, his first words were you left me."
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Reunited with his son at Hobby Elementary thanks to that bus driver who found him - Christopher says this is unacceptable
"I was never contacted. I did all the contacting until this was resolved," Spellman said. "My son isn't a package. You don’t just pick him up and put him somewhere else."
We did reach out to HISD for answers about how happened, they tell us: "The District is aware of an incident last week where a student who was being transported from one school to another was accidentally dropped off at a different location on campus than normal. Another bus driver with the transportation team picked up the student and returned them safely to the school where the student was reunited with their parent. We take these situations very seriously and are reviewing procedures to always ensure safe and reliable transportation for students."