Ex-bus driver charged after leaving child on bus

HOUSTON According to court documents, Heather Celeste Parker, 44, failed to ensure that all children had safely departed the bus and left the boy on the bus in imminent danger.

Court documents state that Parker picked up the boy at his residence in west Houston at around 7:45am on September 28. She dropped off 12 students at the Wildcat Way Academy with the exception of the 4-year-old boy.

Police say Parker said she failed to check the passenger area of the bus because she was operating a different bus from her usual route. She found the 4-year-old student approximately five and a half hours later when she entered the bus to return to the school.

Parker told police she immediately drove the child to the school nurse at the Wildcat Way Academy for medical attention. The nurse said the boy had human excrement all over his buttocks, groin, hands and genital areas.

The boy told his parents he thought he had done something wrong since he was left on the bus so long, according to court documents.

Parker was terminated by the school district the day after the incident.