Jan 6, 2009 6:17 am US/Eastern
Disabled Man On Bus May Have Eaten Seat Foam
Ed Wynn Rivera's Father Tells CBS 2 HD Exclusively How He Finally Found His Shivering Son In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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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
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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
A disabled man spent Monday night at home, his first since spending five days in a hospital after he was left on the bus in the freezing cold over the New Year's Eve holiday.
On Monday night his father spoke out to CBS 2 HD exclusively about what it was like to find his son.
Make no mistake: a father's love helped discover his son in the freezing cold.
Ed Wynn Rivera is finally home. His father, Elmer, found his 22-year-old son in a Brooklyn bus parking lot on New Year's Day. A bus matron has since been charged, after abandoning him there.
For 17 hours he remained, seat-belted in his seat with temperatures dropping to 15 degrees.
It was Elmer who had the forethought to go to the bus parking lot, after an all-night search of his school and Harlem neighborhood turned up nothing. He found two workers at the bus company who checked the bus for him.
"She comes back with tears in her eyes," Elmer said.
She had found Ed.
"He seems scared," Elmer said.
And he was hungry his family says. At the hospital, a CAT scan revealed Ed had foam in his system.
"They were concerned because he was inflamed," sister Leslie Rivera said.
The foam in his system and hypothermia kept him in the hospital until Monday.
Love from his family, who adopted him at age five, is helping Ed through. His mother and sister have been holding onto to him since the ordeal.
"He is holding her hand like don't let me go," Leslie said. "It's nice to have him home."
Investigators are now looking into the criminal record of the bus driver who also had his license suspended 12 times.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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