PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A SEPTA bus driver is being credited for helping rescue five children who were left alone in a squalid Germantown house.
It was 6:30 a.m. on Memorial Day, and Dysheena Donerson was driving her Route 23 bus on Germantown Avenue. Two six-year-old boys who were dressed for school, but disheveled, wanted to board.
"I didn't feel comfortable telling them, 'There's no school today,' and putting them off the bus and then they'd go wherever – because something worse could have happened," said Donerson, who’s been a SEPTA bus driver for nearly seven years.
The children were nonverbal, Donerson said, but used their fingers to tell her their address. She contacted SEPTA's control center and police then went to the house, finding three more children alone in filthy conditions.
"They went in and when they came out, their faces were like, 'There's more kids in there,'" Donerson explained. "It was squalor. They were living in squalor, there was dirt."
Donerson said the children's' mother eventually came to the house but that DHS had already removed the children from her care.
Related
Riders on her bus were getting impatient, but Donerson said she knew she was doing the right thing.
"I'm dealing with the passengers wanting me to continue driving. But I'm like, 'This is bigger than you guys getting home on time. This is kids. We have to make sure that they're good," she said.
At Thursday's board meeting, SEPTA honored Donerson for her action.
Related
SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards quoted a police officer who responded to Donerson's call: "This was a terrible situation that would never have been brought to light if it was not for the compassion that Operator Donerson showed for those children."
And Donerson said she would do it again.
"I'm always looking, very alert, very intuitive,” she said. “It's just a part of my job. I'm not just a bus operator."