Two Daycare Employees Fired After Leaving Four-Year-Old Makyia Artis In Freezing Van
Two daycare employees were terminated after leaving a four-year-old girl in a van for nine hours in below-freezing temperatures.
According to the Daily Mail, the LWC van monitor and driver were fired on Friday after the unidentified van’s driver admitted to leaving Makyia Artis on the frigid bus during the school day on Jan. 7. The RC, New York-based daycare had marked the little girl absent from school and only discovered she was sleeping in the snow-covered van in 18-degree temps– when her irate mother notified the daycare.
The RC girl was picked up by the daycare driver as snow fell in the upstate city at 9.15am on January 7. She told the van monitor she was sleepy and was allowed to lay down across the seats of the near-empty white van.
When the bus arrived at the school, the other students exited, but Artis was overlooked by both the absent-minded driver and van monitor.
Makyia, who weighs between 20 and 25 pounds, was marked absent at school and wasn’t discovered until the van driver arrived at the end of day to prepare the van. That’s when he noticed Artis curled up against the leather seats in the back.
“We thought this child was absent. I didn’t know until I actually received a call from the parent saying her child came home saying she was on the van. So it was a really horrible situation, and I would never downplay it,” Dunbar said.
Although it hasn’t been confirmed if the driver gave Makyia three dollars as hush money, the little girl stated the driver gave her the money and told her to keep quiet about the situation.
Makyia’s grandmother, Brenda Powell, revealed that the two employees brought the young girl home late and cold. She also believes that had her precious grandbaby not spoken up; The family would have never known.
“My daughter said she ran to the couch and threw a blanket over herself. She jumped straight under the blanket with her and said she was real cold and was shivering,” she said. “Had my granddaughter not told my daughter what happened, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. We wouldn’t have known. They wouldn’t have told us anything about it.”
RC police have investigated the incident and determined that the little girl is ok.
Powell stated they intend to file a lawsuit against the daycare and have found a replacement.
Source:dailymail.co.uk, blackenterprise.com
