NY1.com

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Updated 12/08/2009 11:23 PM

Mother Of Autistic Son Demands Answers Over Bus Mix-Up

By: Natasha Ghoneim

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Officials are looking into how a 5-year-old autistic boy from Brooklyn ended up on the wrong bus as he was heading home from school this week.

Helen Morell says her son, Elijah Salinas, usually arrives home from PS 108 around 3:10 p.m. However on Monday, he didn't show up when he was supposed to.

"It was hell. I was so scared. I was so scared something had happened to him," Morell said.

Morell says she called the school and the bus company but got nowhere. She says someone placed her son on the wrong bus, and is now looking for answers.

"I was just praying that nothing happened. But I was terrified that
they might have left him on the bus sleeping," Morell said.

She blames a breakdown in communication and says somebody from either the school or the bus company should have realized the mistake.

"I blame the school. They should have known to put the baby on the right bus. They should have put him on the right bus. They have a sheet where they're supposed to read which child goes on which bus," Morell said.

Morell says the driver eventually realized the mistake and returned her son nearly two hours late.

A spokesman for the Atlantic Bus Company says there is no indication any of its employees did anything wrong.

The Department of Education says it's investigating. Disciplinary action is also said to be pending.