Disabled NYC Man Locked In Frigid Bus Yard

Disabled NYC Man Locked In Frigid Bus Yard

cbs4.com

Police have charged a 51-year-old woman with reckless endangerment after she allegedly left a mentally disabled man on a bus overnight on New Year's Eve, CBS station WCBS-TV reported.

Ed Rivera, 22, who has cerebral palsy and the mental capacity of a 2-year-old, survived alone for 19 hours. Wind chills in New York City hovered near zero on New Year's Eve.

The bus Riviera was traveling on was supposed to drop him off in East Harlem. He never arrived.

Investigators found Riviera locked on the bus in a Brooklyn bus yard Thursday night, nearly 24 hours after he was left there. He was still strapped in his seat.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Police are investigating bus attendant Linda Hockaday, who served as the assistant to the bus driver. Hockaday admitted to knowing that Rivera was still on the bus when it was locked up, WCBS-TV reported. She told investigators she left the man there because she didn't want to be late for church.

On the assumption that she attends a Christian church, I must comment directly to this woman. I have what I consider to be a personal relationship with Jesus. While I would never proport to know the mind of God, I feel safe in saying that I believe Jesus would have understood and even encouraged you to be late for or even miss church entirely to assist a man with cerebral palsy. In fact, I feel safe in also saying that He probably would have insisted that you do so.

What a real piece of work to abandon this poor dude and lock the bus up in a frigid bus yard and then blame your actions on not wanting to be late for church. I seriously hope the judge gets creative with sentencing and includes both making the woman work with disabled people so she can hopefully start recognizing that they are very much human beings, deserving of respect and loving treatment, and a few nights in sub freezing conditions so she can understand that leaving someone strapped in a seat for 19 hours in such conditions is neither respect nor loving treatment.

She should be ashamed of herself!

cbs4.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think this one calls for an eye for an eye.

Let's see if she can last 19 hours under the same conditions.