Oklahoma Mom Shares Cautionary Tale of Child Left at Wrong Bus Stop in Scorching Heat
A heartfelt incident has caught the attention of social media as an Oklahoma mother bravely recounted her five-year-old son’s unsettling experience of being dropped off at the wrong bus stop in scorching 105-degree heat.
A video that gained viral traction on Kelly Mulholland’s TikTok account depicts the young boy standing before a stranger’s door, his voice quivering as he asks, “Would you help me find my mommy?”
In a two-part video explanation, Mulholland labeled the situation as her “literal worst nightmare.” She firmly pointed fingers at the bus driver, accusing them of negligence in following proper procedures, which led to her son and her boyfriend’s five-year-old daughter being lost during the first week back to school.
Mulholland asserted, “The school bus driver did not check the tags on their backpack versus the stop that they got off on and did not even notice that they got off,” as she recounted the harrowing experience in the video.
Upon arriving at the bus stop where her children were supposed to disembark, Mulholland was faced with an hour’s delay and no sight of her kids. Strangely, it was an older student on the bus who informed her that her children had been dropped off at a previous stop.
Adding to the chaos, Mulholland highlighted that the bus driver was unable to provide information about where the kids had been left and was even ignorant about the street’s name.
In a bizarre twist, as she returned to her car to brief her boyfriend, a car pulled up, and the driver inquired if she was looking for two children. The driver revealed that his Ring security camera had alerted him to the presence of two distressed kids seeking help.
Mulholland, in her pursuit to find her children, went to the driver’s house, only to find the kids absent. The situation escalated as neighbors joined the effort to locate the missing children.
After a tense search, the kids were eventually found “a few houses down” from the place captured in the Ring doorbell footage, and about half a mile away from the bus stop where they were initially meant to be dropped off. Mulholland emphasized that the temperature at the time was a sweltering 105 degrees.
“The policies were not followed. Not only did [the bus driver] fail to verify the correct stop, but he also allowed them to leave the bus without a parent present,” Mulholland asserted. She firmly declared that her kids would not be taking the bus for quite some time.
The Edmond School District responded to Fox News Digital, stating that they are in contact with Mulholland and her family regarding the incident. According to the district, younger students are supposed to wear a wristband or carry a tag on their backpack indicating their designated bus, as a measure to ensure they board the correct one.
The district’s spokesperson added, “The drivers have also received updated printouts of which students get off at each stop and they have been reminded to individually check each student as they exit the bus.”
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of adhering to safety protocols in order to protect the well-being of young students during their journey to and from school.