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Child survives scary school bus ordeal

By Tom Tracy

He went to school in the hopes of learning something. In the end, the only thing he learned was how terrifying being stranded on a locked school bus can be. Such was the lesson imprinted on seven-year-old Isaiah Morris, a plucky Foster Avenue child who fell asleep during a short trip to P.S. 279 at 1070 East 104th Street and quickly found himself in Bensonhurst – on the other side of the borough. “It was scary,” Isaiah recalled as he talked to the New York Post and other reporters after his ordeal. “There was no kids left on the bus.” Officials learned that Isaiah got on the bus at 7:35 a.m. on February 16 and fell asleep. When he woke up approximately two hours later, the bus was empty, locked and parked near the corner of 21st Avenue and 64th Street. The child, however didn’t panic. Instead, he managed to open the door from the inside and flag down a motorist driving by. After learning the child’s predicament, the good Samaritan, identified in published reports as 43-year-old Arthur Mahana, called police. The child was brought to the nearby 62nd Precinct, where he was deemed no worse for wear. Cops immediately tracked the bus to its driver, 25-year-old Daniel Bruno of the 2060 block of 65th Street, who apparently forgot to do a final check before securing the bus after his morning run. Bruno had parked the bus near his home as he waited to start up his afternoon run, officials were told. Cops charged him with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment. Both he and the bus matron, identified as Victoria Afia, were suspended from their jobs, school officials said. As this paper went to press, it was unclear what bus company was responsible for taking Morris to school. “Isaiah woke up and he opened the door himself and got out into the street,” his proud mom, Shirley Morris told the Daily News. “They have these signs [on the buses] that say, ‘No child left behind.’ But they left mine behind.”