Chicago woman claims bus driver left mother, 89, alone in bitter cold

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago woman claims a bus driver left her elderly mother alone outside in the extreme cold.

The 89-year-old woman, who suffers from dementia, was being transported to her home on the South Side on Tuesday, but no one was there to answer the door.

"When my neighbor called me and told me that my mom was sitting outside, excuse me, I get so upset," Joi Leavell said.

Leavell said her mother suffers from severe dementia. She said her mother was dropped off and left shivering outside in the cold by a CDT bus driver.

Leavell said the bus picked her mother up early from her adult day care and dropped her off at her South Side home before her caregiver was scheduled to be there. She said the driver didn't wait to see if her mother was able to get inside.

Luckily, one of her neighbors spotted the elderly woman and took her inside his home.

"I seen the transporting truck pull up and they let her out and she came to the door and they pulled off," Jimmy Cunnings said.

"Where is your mind? I mean, would you leave your mom out there? Would do that, if you did, shame on you," Leavell said.

Leavell said this isn't the first time a driver has pulled off without waiting for her mother's caregiver. She has made complaints.

"They will call me back. They say they have taken care of the problem. I can't tell because it is continuing to happen. So what are you all doing," Leavell said.

CDT is a contractor for PACE. In response, PACE said in a statement: "We are sorry to learn of the incident as described by Ms. Leavell and will continue to review the incident to determine whether there are opportunities to learn from it to prevent it from happening again or to other customers."

CDT declined to issue a statement and referred questions to PACE.