A Florida daycare bus driver was arrested this week after she left a 6-year-old girl sleeping on her bus for over an hour.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said the girl banged on a window to attract the attention someone walking by after she woke up “realizing she was very hot and had trouble breathing,” WOFL reported.
Barbra Ledbetter, 49, has been charged with child neglect and has been fired from All About Kidz in Oviedo, the station said.
The state Department of Children and Families opened an investigation a day after the incident took place on Monday. Ledbetter was arrested on Wednesday.
“Through DCF’s investigation and my own investigation, it was determined [the child] was left sleeping on a daycare bus, which was turned off and unattended, for a period of one hour and two minutes in the parking lot of All About Kidz,” an arrest affidavit said. “The driver, Barbra Ledbetter, did not check the bus after arriving to the daycare and letting the kids off. Her job duty requires her to physically go to the back of the bus and visually check the seats, which she did not do.”
Police said she signed a log saying she had checked the bus.
She has been released on a miniscule $2,500 bond.
The daycare said in a statement it was cooperating with the investigation but had no further comment.
According to the police report, the child did not require medical attention despite reporting difficulty breathing, WESH reported.
