THE BRONX (PIX11) — A Bronx student with autism who disappeared after getting on a city bus more than two weeks ago was found safe in a Brooklyn youth shelter Thursday evening, his mother told PIX11 News.
“I was praying so much,” said Zoraida Ramirez, the boy’s mother. “I hugged him so tight and I told him I loved him.”
Ramirez said earlier this week that her 15-year-old son was upset that other students teased him about still using a yellow school bus to get home from his inclusive school on Lafayette Avenue.
“He said he got overwhelmed by the kids bothering him,” she said. “He had told my sister a kid in the school said something really mean to him.”
Surveillance footage showed the teen took the BX5 bus five blocks and got off at Story Avenue in the Bronx.
At some point, Ramirez said her son received treatment at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, using a different name, and was then sent to a Brooklyn youth shelter.
Her son apologized for taking off and said “I didn’t deserve that,” Ramirez said.
She also added that the family is planning on going to therapy and her son will transfer to another school.
