TYLERTOWN, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Six year old Imiracle Anderson is safe and no worse for the wear Thursday, after a terrifying incident Wednesday.
"I just want to cry. I cried all day yesterday," her mother, Willene Anderson, says.
Willene and the girl's father, Curtis, say their daughter was inadvertently left on the school bus after driver Eddie Ratliff dropped off the kids at Tylertown Primary School Wednesday morning. Mrs. Anderson says her daughter probably fell asleep in the bus, then spent hours inside the vehicle, parked at the house where the Ratliff lives.
It was the afternoon before Imiracle escaped out of the emergency exit.
"She said she opened the hole on the back door, went out that little hole," Mrs. Anderson says.
The girl began knocking on doors, and found a helpful neighbor.
"He said hey little girl are you lost? She said she was, crying, scared, shaking her head yes. She said I want to go back to the bus, get my book sack and jacket," Mrs. Anderson says.
Eventually, the Andersons say, bus driver Ratliff was notified, and he took the girl to school.
"I said when you got back to the classroom what were they doing? She said they were packing up, getting ready to go home. So that had to be like all day on the bus, no water, no food, all day. When she was walking down the road, anybody could have picked her up," Mrs. Anderson says.
Curtis Anderson talked to the driver later in the day.
"He told me he knew it was his fault, he didn't check the bus, he parked the bus and went on," Mr. Anderson tells us, adding that Ratliff apologized and seemed remorseful.
The Andersons were told Ratliff would be suspended for several days. They hope their daughter's story will remind those responsible for children to be more cautious.
"That's my only child. That's my baby. I don't want this to happen to any other child," Mrs. Anderson says.
3 On Your Side stopped by the Walthall County School District talk to Superintendent Danny McCallum, and to see if any action was indeed taken against the bus driver. We were told the Superintendent had no comment.
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Imiracle Anderson Source: Family
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