Mom: Bus driver left kids in unlocked bus to go on pizza run

A mom's kids say their bus driver allegedly left them to get something to eat.

ByABC News
September 13, 2017, 7:06 PM

— -- A Michigan mother is "livid" after her kids told her their bus driver left them alone with the door open and the engine running to pop inside a pizza place to get something to eat.

Bethann Rey's son and daughter were on their way home from their Detroit-area school on Sept. 7 when the incident reportedly occurred.

According to Rey's children, the driver allegedly stopped the bus, left the engine running with the door propped open and went inside a Little Caesars in nearby Ferndale, Michigan, to "get some breadsticks."

"I've never, in all of my life, heard of a bus driver stopping to get food," Rey told ABC affiliate WXYZ. "After the shock wore off, then I was livid. Absolutely disgusted."

Rey told WXYZ she spoke to the Hazel Park Police Department to report the incident.

"The police officer said 'It's not really a police matter,'" Rey recalled to WXYZ. "And I said 'So you mean to tell me that I can leave my car running with my children in it, get out and go into the store, and I'm not going to get in trouble?' He said 'Well, no, not really. I don't see why not? Depends on the age of the child.'"

Lieutenant Brian Buchholz with the Hazel Park Police Department told ABC News they talked to the sergeant who spoke with Rey. Since the reported incident did not take place in their city, but in the city of Ferndale, they did not consider the issue their jurisdiction.

Luckily, no one was injured, but Rey maintains she thinks the driver, who has still not yet been identified by authorities or school officials, should be held accountable.

"What if somebody decided to jump in the bus [and] take off with the kids?" Rey said to WXYZ. "She's still driving the bus, which -- I'm a little taken back by that."

Her son said the bus driver confronted him about it, too.

"She said, 'I know you're the one who told on me,'" her 12-year-old son told WXYZ. "I'm like, 'Yeah, OK.'"

ABC News has reached out to the school multiple times but has not received a comment on the matter. The bus company, Global Bus Services, refused to answer whether it was one of its drivers who was involved.