A southwest Atlanta day care is being investigated after allegedly leaving a 5-year-old alone in a van for three hours, authorities said.
The Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) is investigating Future Leaders Christian Academy, which is located at 51 Polar Rock Road, after the alleged negligence last Monday, department spokesman Reg Griffin told AJC.com.
The child’s grandmother, Lisa Crawford, told Channel 2 Action News she hopes the van’s driver gets arrested.
“I said that lady done left my baby in the back of that van,” she said. “I’m not going to feel better until they lock her up.”
She told Channel 2 the day care picked up her grandson, Major, and his sister before 7 a.m. to take them to school. But while the girl was dropped off, Major fell asleep and didn’t get off.
Crawford alleged that the van made other stops while her grandson remained asleep before the driver left him alone for hours. She said she got the message from the school after 10 a.m. asking about the boy’s whereabouts.
However, the day care’s owner, Deke Cooper, refutes that the child was left unattended for that long.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Cooper also said the driver suffered a stroke at some point during the day and paramedics and staff had to attend to her, the news station reported. He didn’t elaborate on why the child was still in the van and not at school.
In the past year, DECAL has investigated 15 complaints about children being left in day care vans and buses, and 10 of those complaints were substantiated, Griffin said.
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