A former Bucks County Intermediate Unit School van driver was charged Wednesday with leaving a child with challenges in a van for a little more than two hours this past summer.
Crystal Grey, 30, of Bensalem, is charged with reckless endangerment for leaving the boy in the school van on a warm July day,after she completed her morning run. Police said the child was in the van for about two hours.
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At the time, Grey had just finished dropping off children on her route, according to court documents. The boy from Bensalem was found unattended in the van at the Friendship Circle Early Childhood Center in the 700 block of Emily Avenue in Bristol Township’s Croydon section around noon on July 15.
According to police, the boy was picked up from Bensalem Tuesday morning and loaded into the van along with other kids. The van was unloaded at the center, but the 4-year-old was not removed from his car seat. The van driver returned to her home in Bensalem and was unaware there was still a child in the vehicle. The child was discovered as the van was re-loaded at the center around noon when the morning session had ended, police said.
Two lower bucks school bus/van drivers told LevittownNow.com Saturday the most important aspect of the job other than driving safely is checking your bus after dropping off children at a school and or getting off the van/bus for breaks or at the end of the work day.
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“You have to always check,” one driver said, “some of the kids have communication challenges and in some cases don’t choose to speak. That’s one of the reasons we are told repeatedly ‘check your bus when picking up, dropping off, and returning to the depot, each driver said.
A nurse working at the center tended to the child until medics arrived and rushed the boy to Lower Bucks Hospital to treat him for
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dehydration. Subsequently, the BCIU reportedly fired Grey shortly after the incident.
Bristol Township Police Lt. Guy Sava told LevittownNow.com in July the investigation had been completed and the investigative files were turned over to to the district attorney’s office for review.
“The driver did not follow BCIU protocol and left the child unattended in his car seat,” a July statement from the IU said.
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According to the National Weather Service, the temperature in nearby Trenton was in the 80s at the time of incident.
Grey was charged with second degree misdemeanor through mail summons. She is scheduled to appear in Bristol Borough District Court for a preliminary hearing on December 10.
