L.I. Toddler Left on Bus

MYFOXNY.COM - Nicholas Arroyo, 3, of Long Beach, spent four hours alone on a school bus, and his parents want to know why that happened.

Police arrested the bus driver and bus matron for allegedly not making sure that their bus was empty after they dropped off kids at summer school.

Nicholas, a special needs student, was dropped off earlier than usual from his summer school in Woodmere. His parents thought nothing of it, and may never have learned what happened were it not for a notebook.

The book is a way for parents and teachers to communicate on a daily basis. On Wednesday after their son came home from school an hour earlier, Nicholas's mom wrote the teacher asking if that was going to be a common practice.

Then Thursday morning the teacher called and said Nicholas was never in school the day before.

The Arroyos say the bus driver, bus matron, and a third person at the school, failed to spot their son sitting in his car seat. He then spent the next four hours, they say, sitting on the bus in Jamaica, Queens, after the bus driver drove home.

Police did arrest and charge the bus driver, Roger Pierre, and bus matron, Ebony Blackwell.

The bus company, We Transport, released a statement which in part read: "For better than 50 years the company has placed the safety of our children as priority number one. ... The company will fully cooperate with all investigative authorities."