Jan 2, 2009 7:18 pm US/Eastern
Transport Company Owner Outraged Over Bus Ordeal
'Outstanding Transport' President Curcio Says Matron Has Been Fired, Employees Will Be Held Accountable
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Outstanding Transport President Charles Curcio, spoke exclusively with CBS 2 HD about the disturbing bus ordeal in which a mentally disabled Harlem man was left alone overnight locked in to his seat.
CBS
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This is the Oustanding Transport bus that 22-year-old Ed Rivera, who has cerebral palsy, spent 19 hours on after the driver forgot about him on New Year's Eve.
CBS
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A 22-year-old man with cerebral palsy who was missing since Wednesday afternoon has been found alive. He spent the entire night locked on a bus in freezing temperatures. Edwin Rivera was taken to Brookdale Hospital today and is in stable condition.
CBS
Shocking details are emerging about how a disabled man was left alone on a bus in freezing weather for 17 hours over the New Year's Eve holiday.
Edwin Rivera, 22, was found Thursday still strapped to his seat on his special needs bus in Brooklyn.
On Friday, the bus matron charged with seeing him safely home was fired.
Charles Curcio is the owner of Outstanding Transport, the bus company that was supposed to take the severely handicapped man, who suffers from, cerebral palsy and has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, from his home in Manhattan to a facility in Brooklyn and back home. Except, police say 51-year-old bus matron Linda Hockaday left Rivera on the freezing cold bus in Brooklyn.
Curcio is furious.
"I'm outraged. I haven't slept since this happened. We transport the most precious cargo," Curcio told CBS 2 HD's Magee Hickey in an exclusive interview on Friday morning.
"She's terminated."
CBS 2 HD obtained exclusive cell phone video of Rivera recuperating in his Brookdale Hospital bed. CBS 2 HD got a look at the seat on the bus where he spent some 17 frigid, cold hours while his family looked for him, frantically. On Friday, Hockaday was in criminal court.
Assistant district attorney Lucy Lang said Hockaday first lied to detectives, then changed her story. The DA said the bus matron admitted she told the bus driver everybody was off the bus when she knew Rivera was still on the bus. But she told detectives she didn't want to drive him home because then she'd be late for an appointment at church.
Curcio said the way his drivers and matrons conduct themselves will change.
"I can't answer for her actions. The driver is beside himself. Who do you blame? The bus matron. That's what she's there for," said Curcio.
"I am going to hold the drivers accountable from now on."
Rivera's family told CBS 2 HD on Friday that they support the bus matron, saying she developed a good relationship with Edwin.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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