Special needs patient left alone overnight on frigid bus

[tpsbmam]

A bus driver's helper is facing criminal charges after she allegedly overlooked a 22-year-old special needs man, who spent New Year's Eve alone in a freezing bus depot, police said.

Edwin Rivera, who has cerebral palsy, was left on a bus Wednesday night, authorities said.

Temperatures in New York plummeted to 15 degrees before he was found early Thursday. Rivera was taken to Brookdale University Hospital, where he was recovering Friday, according to hospital officials.

When he was found, Rivera was "cold, very cold," his sister, Leslie Rivera, told CNN affiliate News 12 Long Island. "His fingers were blue."

Linda Hockaday, 51, who helps the bus driver, faces charges of first- and second-degree reckless endangerment. She was arraigned Friday.

Hockaday was aware Rivera was asleep on the bus, but did not inform the driver he was there, prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint. She didn't want to retrace the bus route and take Rivera home because she had to get to an appointment, the complaint said.

(more at link)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/02/left.on.bus/


To way too many people, we with disabilities are disposable. This is pathetic. According to prosecutors, she didn't "overlook" him, she decided to ignore him and leave him in freezing temperatures overnight so she could get to her appointment on time. I don't do it often, but there are some people I've wished could become seriously disabled, just for a couple of months, so they can live a bit in the shoes of people with disabilities. And that includes some I've encountered in the medical profession (I worked for decades in hospitals as a fellow professional). And healthy people who park even for 5 minutes in disabled parking spots. And my neighbor who used her disabled client's extra parking pass (she transports her in her car sometimes) because she has 3 young kids she has to get in and out of stores, doncha know. (Our friendship came very close to ending over this issue....it was quite a contentious issue between us.)

[bdamomma]

1. total disregard of life, so sad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Amazing that someone would make this decision. Attempted murder, really.

He could have died.

[LisaM]

3. I agree. I could see missing him

but I can't see purposely overlooking him; that's outrageous.

That said, don't pre-judge people who use disabled spaces as malicious. My sister is not obviously disabled, but she lost her left hearing nerve after a brain operation, and has a balance disorder, so cannot walk on inclines. She doesn't look disabled, but she is and people sometimes look at her when she parks as if she's cheating.

[tpsbmam]

4. I never do....as long as she has a legal disabled parking pass, she's good to go

there are plenty of people who don't "look disabled" who have invisible disabilities. Hell, with MS I did for years before ending up more visibly disabled. I couldn't walk very far before my legs started getting wobbly and walking a lot impacted my exhaustion level, making it difficult to work full-time, but to look at me I didn't "look disabled." There are tons of conditions with invisible disabilities. THe ones I begrudge are the truly healthy people who don't have disabled parking passes and who I see park, jump out of the car and run into a store. Some people think it's okay if it's just a quick trip -- it's not. I've left (e.g.) the drugstore without picking up a prescription because there was nowhere I could park (that wasn't too far for me to walk) and had to go back the next day.

[LisaM]

5. Yeah, your friend's story makes me mad

In fact, since having children is a choice, yeah, it's tough to do errands with three small kids, but since you chose to have them, so be it. Being disabled is not a choice.

[chocolate ink]

6. Not looking disabled

I think that might possibly be the biggest stigma/prejudice against many disabled people..we don't 'look' disabled. I have had a parking permit for over 20 years even though I can't drive-we use it when my sister drives me around. Even worse is when you are young and don't look disabled. I don't know how many times I've had people get angry with me or even vocally take me task for parking in disabled spaces-even with my permit. That goes also for using those carts in the grocery stores when I've had to use on various occasions when I wasn't feeling good enough to walk.(have neuromuscular disease along with very severe foot problems-although I can seem to walk 'normally' for short periods of time)

Yes, this is one of my all time pet peeves-people not handicapped parking in handicapped spaces plus complete strangers believing they know more of my medical condition than I or my doctor do just by 'looking' at me. Secondary to that is the fact that there are not enough handicapped spaces in the first place.

[chocolate ink]

7. Left on bus...

and yes the woman who so callously left that man on the bus doesn't deserve to ever work with special needs patients ever again. As some have mentioned he could have died-she's just lucky she's not facing a murder charge.

[tpsbmam]

9. A friend of mine got yelled at by this woman who said he had no business

parking in disabled parking (he has a permit but that wasn't good enough for her). He had had a heart transplant not that long before this incident and, due to complications, had a below the knee leg amputation afterward. He was having lots of trouble with his prosthesis -- it could get very painful to walk sometimes.

He took off his leg and handed it to her.

I'm gonna guess she never did that again. :P

That said, I had it happen to me a couple of times years ago. I've tried to take the opportunity to educate. I thank them for looking out for people with disabilities but explain to them that there are lots of people who have disabilities that aren't obvious. And I've quickly told them why I was using disabled parking -- it's always ended up very pleasantly.

[customerserviceguy]

8. According to local news reports

the appointment she had to get to was to go to church! Who Would Jesus Desert?

[tpsbmam]

10. I'm speechless! n.t

[chocolate ink]

12. Oh Lord

save me from all those 'religious' people.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Yep - link here:

http://wcbstv.com/local/missing.cerebral.palsy.2.898300.html

[sarge43]

11. Not only heartless, incredibly stupid.

What did Hockaday think was going to happen? The man would disappear, get up and walk home?

The driver should be charged, too. I drove school bus for ten years and Rule Number One, always, always check for passengers before leaving. The driver is responsible for the passenger's safety.

Thank goodness the man survived.