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Disabled Man's Bus Matron Goes Before Judge

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Jan 8, 2009 8:26 am US/Eastern

Disabled Man's Bus Matron Goes Before Judge

Accused Linda Hockaday Shows Remorse: "I Have Kids"

Reporting
Pablo Guzman

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 3: Edwin Rivera, a mentally disabled 22-year-old, spent 17 hours on a bus like this over the New Year's Eve holiday after his bus matron allegedly left him because she didn't want to be late for church.
CBS
Click to enlarge 2 of 3: 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
Click to enlarge 3 of 3: 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

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There was a wild scene outside a Manhattan courthouse Wednesday as a woman accused of leaving a handicapped man on a bus overnight went before a judge.

It happened while a grand jury listened to evidence that could decide her fate.

Linda Hockaday got caught up in a chaotic scene as she left Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday morning. When Hockaday was asked how she feels, she implied sympathy towards Ed Wynn Rivera, the young man she is accused of abandoning on a bus. Because she said she, too, is a mother.

"I have kids," Hockaday declared.

Hockaday is the matron who was arrested after Rivera was left for 17 hours overnight in the freezing cold on the bus authorities said she was responsible for.

Rivera has cerebral palsy and is mentally handicapped and is taken by bus from his home in Manhattan to a facility in Brooklyn. Charles Curcio owns the bus company, Outstanding Transport, and almost immediately fired Hockaday. The paperwork he was seen handling Wednesday was part of the background check sent to Albany on the driver of that bus, Walter Gibbs Jr.

CBS 2 HD has learned the bus driver, Gibbs, and the employee in charge of preparing the background paperwork both testified Wednesday before a grand jury.

When Rivera was released from the hospital for hypothermia, and eating foam from the bus for his hunger, CBS 2 HD was there and spoke exclusively with his father, Elmer Rivera.\

It is believed that sometime next month the grand jury will indict Hockaday on reckless endangerment charges. That could mean prison time. The owner of the bus company is also expected to testify before the grand jury.

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