School bus driver arrested after leaving autistic boy alone for 4 hours, cops say

NEW BRUNSWICK — A bus driver was arrested after leaving an autistic 9-year-old boy alone on a school bus for four hours on Thursday.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said the driver, Hardy Sannoh, 60, of New Brunswick, picked the boy up at 7:40 a.m. to take him to a school in Piscataway. The driver, who was the only Accurate Transportation employee or aide on board, arrived at the school but did not escort the boy off the bus.

The boy sat alone on the bus from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., when Sannoh came back and took the boy home, according to Carey. The prosecutor did not disclose where the bus was located during the four hours.

Following an investigation Sannoh was arrested and chared with endangering the welfare of the child.

A phone number or website could not be found for Accurate Transportation.

Two bus drivers were fired in Paterson at the start of the school year when 6-year-olds were left on board two separate buses.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.