A four-year-old pre-kindergarten student in the Cato-Meridian Central School District was dragged down a rural road by a school bus on Wednesday after her backpack became caught in its doors, her family says. Riley Ordway was dragged at least 15 feet along Follett Road in Martville before the bus came to a stop, relatives said.
Riley was the third child to leave the bus that afternoon, and her grandmother, Donna Cooper, said she took a bit longer than the other two to make her way down the steps because she is small for her age, according to a report from Syracuse.com. Cooper said that as her granddaughter was getting off, “the bus driver just shuts the door” on Riley's backpack and pulled away while the girl was still outside the bus, dragging her along the road.
Donna Cooper said she and her husband Dennis immediately took off running after the moving bus as Riley screamed. “I started running after her screaming,” Cooper said, according to the same report. The driver eventually brought the bus to a stop, and Cooper said the driver “then quickly apologized” once the vehicle halted.
Conflicting Accounts of Riley's Condition
Cooper called 911 immediately after the bus stopped, per the outlet's account. Syracuse.com reported that Riley was not injured in the incident, while a separate report from SignalNewsSyracuse.com said further details about the student's injuries, if any, were not immediately available.
Riley's mother, Montana Cooper, said the bus driver was not paying enough attention during the incident. Montana Cooper also said it was unacceptable that the driver did not stop to check on Riley sooner, according to the same account carried by Syracuse.com.
School and State Police Respond
By the time Dennis Cooper reported the incident at the school, officials there were already aware of what had happened, the outlet's report indicated. The district went on to notify parents about the incident, and the station's report notes that WSYR-TV was first to report on the episode involving the Cato-Meridian pre-kindergarten student.
New York State Police investigated the incident, with a trooper reviewing video of what happened and speaking with those involved, while the school district separately conducted its own administrative investigation, per the same account. State Police said no criminal charges would be filed, and the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office declined to pursue prosecution.
The Cato-Meridian Central School District said procedures are already in place to prevent the incident from happening again, adding that it remains committed to ensuring every child arrives home safely each day.
Not the First Time in Upstate New York
Backpacks catching in school bus doors has led to dragging incidents elsewhere in New York before. In January 2015, a young Avoca Central School student was dragged for roughly four-tenths of a mile along County Route 55 in Fremont, Steuben County, before the driver realized her backpack was caught in the door, according to a report from Democrat and Chronicle. That student was injured, the outlet reported at the time.
A similar case unfolded in Taylortown, North Carolina, where a 12-year-old boy getting off his West Pine Middle School bus was dragged and struck after his backpack caught in the doors, Local 12 reported. The boy said he freed himself and fell onto the road, where his left arm was run over and fractured; the driver, identified as 43-year-old Kim Crawford, was charged with reckless driving, and the school district said she was no longer driving a bus.
No such charges have followed the Martville incident. For now, the matter has been closed out by both the New York State Police and the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office, leaving the Cato-Meridian Central School District's internal review and stated safety procedures as the primary response to what Riley's family described as a terrifying afternoon on Follett Road.
