Autistic 6-year-old left on Edison bus for 7 hours, officials say

Two bus company workers have been charged with leaving an autistic 6-year-old boy on a school bus for more than seven hours, authorities said Friday.

Luis Gonzalez, 67, of Middlesex Borough and Maria Vasquez, 53, of Edison were charged Thursday with endangering the welfare of the child, who had been abandoned on their school bus on Oct. 22, according to an announcement from Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Chief Thomas Bryan of the Edison Police Department.

Both were released in their own recognizance after they surrendered to police. No court hearing dates have been set, the announcement said.

Gonzalez was the school bus driver for an Edison school bus, and Vasquez was the bus aide, according to the announcement.

The child was picked up to be taken to an Edison school at 8:45 a.m., but was never escorted off the bus, which then was returned to the Barker Bus Co. bus yard in Bridgewater, the announcement said.

Another driver discovered the child during an afternoon school pickup and alerted company owners, it said. The child was returned safely to his school, where he was examined by a school nurse, at about 4 p.m.

It wasn't clear from the announcement whether anyone noticed the child was missing from school and whether authorities were searching for him earlier.

The Edison school district's superintendent's office declined comment Friday.

The child was uninjured, the prosecutor's office said.