Family In Disbelief After 5-Year-Old Had To Walk Home Alone

A family is in disbelief after a five-year-old missed his bus stop and had to walk home alone.

Imagine waiting at a school bus stop, like you do every day, only the child you're picking up doesn't get off the bus.

That's exactly what happened, so it's easy to understand the instant panic. But it's how the Sand Springs School district handled the situation that has the family even more upset.

The bus stops on west 59th street at 2:50 p.m. every afternoon. Alexis Clayton waits for her nephew and drives him about two blocks to the house but not on Thursday.

"I'm thinking 'oh, where's Wyatt?” Clayton recalled.

She immediately called the school district when he didn't get off the BUS.

"They put me on hold,” she said. “Then they ended up saying 'Well, he fell asleep.' And then they tried to tell me that he got off with two other boys."

She says the district finally told her to go home and see if he was there.

“Nobody knew where he was,” she said. “It was terrifying."

The bus driver had circled back, and Wyatt Pendergrass walked home alone.

"I was sitting on the couch and watching Scooby Doo,” said Pendergrass.

The door was wide open when Clayton says she pulled into the driveway.

"He really could have been anywhere, gone with anyone, anything could have happened,” she said.

The assistant superintendent says the bus driver should have brought b Pendergrass back to the transportation building and then someone would have given him a ride home.

In a statement, Rob Miller said, "We have been in close contact with the student's parents and will continue to do everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again for this family or any family in our district."

Clayton says the brave kindergartener shouldn't have had to show his strength or navigational skills at such a young age.

"It's so dangerous,” she stated. “Just can't comprehend how you would let a little boy off the bus like that by himself."

The assistant superintendent says a substitute bus driver was behind the wheel that day and that this particular case probably wouldn't have happened if it had been the regular driver.

The district also says there are no rules that an adult has to pick up a child, even as young as five.