NY man with CP, MR kicked off Access-A-Ride, walks four miles

From the NY Daily News:

A 48-year-old cerebral palsy victim was booted off an Access-A-Ride bus and left to wander the streets of Queens for hours, his family said March 6.

John Robinson (pictured) - who is mentally retarded, can't read and has memory difficulties - somehow managed to find his way safely from Flushing to his sister's home in St. Albans - about 4 miles.

An outraged Aveon Robinson, 52, wants to know why her brother was put in danger.

"This kind of thing has got to stop now," said Aveon Robinson, a public school teacher and mother of two. "If it doesn't, sooner or later someone is going to die."

Robinson's ordeal began Thursday afternoon, a day after 5-year-old Alaina Stevens was hustled off her school bus and stranded on a Queens street.

Alaina, a student a Public School 13, eventually got home, too, but her family claims she suffered "psychological trauma," so they're is suing the Department of Education for $1 million.

Robinson said he boarded an Access-A-Ride bus at the Queens Cerebral Palsy rehab center in Flushing at 3 p.m. for a ride to his sister's place, where he lives.

Somewhere along the way, the ride came to an abrupt end.

"The man put me out," said the soft-spoken Robinson, who has high blood pressure. "He told me to get off because I was on the wrong bus. I didn't know where I was, and I was worried, so I just started walking."

Struggling to recall where he was left off and what route he took home, he could only say, "I was sad. I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

His sister said she called Access-A-Ride five times Thursday and fired off an e-mail early Friday, but got no reply.

Alaina's mom, Shallah, said the driver yelled and screamed at her daughter before dumping her. "Apparently, this guy has a problem," she said.

The driver, Jean Claude Sudre, 53, of Staten Island, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child. He was also suspended by the bus company.