Twins found asleep on vehicle in East Brunswick
By Davy James, Staff Writer
Twin 6-year-old elementary school students were left on their school bus for two hours after they left Indian Fields Elementary School.
Police discovered the children on the bus, where they had been left after the bus driver failed to check for the children.
The mother of the twin first-graders called police at around 4:15 p.m. after waiting for her sons at their Friendship Road bus stop. The mother told police the children were supposed to be dropped off at 3:10 p.m. but never got off the bus. The mother then questioned the bus driver who told her the children were not on board.
Both students are speech delayed, which made it difficult for them to communicate, according to police. Working with school officials, officers tracked down the bus company, Irvin Raphael of East Brunswick, and the driver.
The bus driver told the company she had checked the bus and the children were not on it, according to police. However, police said the children’s school teacher insisted she placed the twins on the bus.
Officers checked other bus stops while attempting to locate the driver and the bus. Bus dispatchers were unable to get the driver to answer her radio for 30 minutes, police said.
Police spokesman Sgt. James Ryan said the bus driver was told to pull over and search the bus for the twins and she didn’t do that. Sgt. Ryan said the driver was told to pull over at her location in East Brunswick so East Brunswick police could search the bus.
At that point, the driver checked the bus and found the missing children sleeping in the back of the vehicle. At around 5:10 p.m. the driver contacted her dispatcher to report that she found the children. East Brunswick police were sent to the bus location at Rues Lane and Ryders Lane before South Brunswick detectives arrived to transport the children home.
Sgt. Ryan said bus company officials suspended the driver and he was told by South Brunswick School District Superintendent Gary McCartney that the driver will never drive a bus in South Brunswick again.

