GLASTONBURY, Conn. — A school bus driver here has been fired and is facing charges related to allegedly leaving a student with special needs on a school bus, NBC Connecticut reports.

On June 29, Guillermo Garcia, who had been a bus driver for Access Transportation, allegedly left a 6-year-old boy on the bus alone, investigators believe, for half an hour, according to the news source. Police said that the boy was asleep on the bus when Garcia returned to the bus yard, and he apparently didn’t realize that the student was still on the bus when he parked it and left the yard. A school bus company employee walked past the bus, heard the boy crying, and found him on the bus, Glastonbury Police Sgt. Corey Davis told NBC Connecticut.

Garcia is charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree reckless endangerment, according to the news source.

Holly Annino, director of Access Transportation, told NBC Connecticut that the company has a policy that requires drivers to check their bus once right after a run is complete and again when they come back to the bus yard, and that surveillance video shows Garcia did not follow that protocol. Access Transportation held an emergency safety meeting the morning after the incident and reviewed it with staff members, and contacted the family and the Wethersfield Board of Education to apologize, Annino told the news source. The company also posted a reminder for drivers of the importance of checking for sleeping students on its Facebook page.

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