Mother says her son who has autism was left alone on Pittsburgh school van, driver stopped at hotel

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh mom told us her son who has autism was left alone on a school van for nearly 20 minutes while the driver stopped at a local hotel. The mom shared that the only reason she found out was because her son arrived home late on Tuesday evening.

“Eighteen minutes,” said mom Marilyn Fisher.

That is how long Fisher told Channel 11 News her 13-year-old who has autism was left alone in a school van while the driver made a stop at a local hotel where he allegedly used the restroom.

“It’s just completely uncalled for all of it, just leaving him on the bus by himself alone is just unexpectable,” she continued.

Fisher shared that every day her son is dropped off from school around the same time between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m., but on Tuesday he arrived home 45 minutes late.

“At 5:10 I contacted the bus company three times at least nobody answered,” said Fisher.

Unable to contact Krise Transportation, the bus company that the Pittsburgh Public Schools district uses, she continued to question her son, and finally he explained that the driver stopped at the Tryp Hotel located in Lawrenceville to allegedly use the restroom.

“It makes no sense why he would be over in Lawrenceville to make it to [our home] in Summer Hill,” she said.

Fisher’s son attends school at PPS Sterrett 6-8 in Point Breeze. She lives in Summer Hill. The only other student who gets dropped off lives in Oakland, so she has no idea why the driver would stop in Lawrenceville at a hotel to use the restroom for nearly 20 minutes.

The Pittsburgh Public School District agreed and confirmed on Thursday that the driver was removed from all school bus routes. However, when we reached out to Krise Transportation, the driver’s employer, they refused to confirm if the driver was let go.

“I am just thankful that he did not get off the bus and try to walk somewhere. He didn’t have his phone that day so he couldn’t call us, and he was just waiting on the bus sweating,” Fisher said.

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