Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Bus matron faces probation for leaving man with CP on freezing bus

From the NY Daily News. This the resolution of a story from January.

A bus matron charged with leaving a severely disabled man on a freezing bus at a Brooklyn depot faces three years' probation, prosecutors said April 6.

Linda Hockaday, 51, who pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count in the case, also faces 100 hours of community service when she is sentenced April 22. She ditched cerebral palsy sufferer Ed Wynn Rivera (pictured) as she rushed to a New Year's Eve celebration Dec. 31.

Rivera, 22, was discovered inside the bus 17 hours later, "curled up and rocking," officials said. The family's lawyer, Jeffrey Bloom, held out hope Hockaday would get a significant punishment.

"We certainly hope that an appropriate sentence is served," Bloom said. "We want to make sure that the seriousness of what happened to Ed Wynn Rivera, that he was left on a bus for hours in [freezing] weather, is known. It's so outrageous."

Bus driver Walter Gibb, who has a police record and who was last off the bus that day, was not charged because the matron is responsible for clearing the bus, authorities said. Prosecutors yesterday said they have no plans to charge Gibbs.

At the family's home Monday, Rivera's dad, Elmer Rivera, declined to talk about the case. The case was first brought against the bus matron in Manhattan because it was not immediately clear where the crime occurred.

Rivera, who has the mind of a toddler, was left in a Brooklyn depot but had been picked up at his East Harlem home.