TAMPA — The Davenport mother of an autistic teenage boy who was left on a school bus twice in March 2016, forcing him to walk and hitchhike 30 miles back home, is suing the Polk County School Board in federal court for negligence.
In the lawsuit, Suzanne Riha said her 13-year-old son was sleeping when the bus arrived at Our Children’s Academy in Lake Wales, a charter school for students with special needs. She alleges the bus driver and bus attendant failed to check the bus for passengers before parking it for the day.