What should have been a joyful first day of school turned into a nightmare for dozens of Minneapolis parents when a school bus driver abandoned a bus filled with children, sparking panic, a police response, and outrage across the community in Minnesota.
The incident unfolded outside a McDonald’s on Dupont Avenue North when the bus abruptly stopped and the driver exited, leaving about twelve children, including a special-needs student, trapped inside. The stunned students scrambled to call their parents, one child blurting into the phone: “Hey mom, we’re on the bus and we don’t know what to do. There’s no driver on the bus.”
Parents Sound the Alarm as Police Rush to the Scene
For Pearll Warren, that phone call was every parent’s worst fear come true. Sprinting from her home nearby, she found the bright yellow bus idling in the street with no adult supervision. “It was disheartening, and I was concerned. I have a special needs child on the bus… that’s a high-traffic area, so the probability of anything happening is high,” Warren later said.
Fearing for the children’s safety, Warren dialed 911 and went live on Facebook, streaming the shocking scene in real time. Her video captured the confusion of the children and the fury of local parents as they watched what should have been an ordinary school drop-off spiral into disaster…