2 charged after 5-year-old left alone on SC bus

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — Two former Sumter School District employees are facing charges after authorities say they left a 5-year-old student on a school bus.

Sumter police say 49-year-old Delinda Bradley and 21-year-old Marley Reynolds were charged Tuesday with one count each of cruelty to children.

Authorities say Bradley was driving a bus that picked up the boy on Monday morning. Police say the boy fell asleep and didn’t get off as scheduled at Kingsbury Elementary.

Reynolds was a bus monitor tasked with making sure no students were still on board, but police say she didn’t do so. A different driver found the child while doing a check before beginning a different route at 11 a.m.

Both women have been released from jail and were fired Tuesday. It wasn’t known if they had lawyers.