CHARLIE WOJCIECHOWSKI

6-Year-Old Boy Locked Outside Plainfield Home for Hours After Being Mistakenly Dropped Off by School Bus, Parents Say

“This could have happened to any child,” the boy's mother said. “My child could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and this is why kids go missing"

Parents of a 6-year-old Plainfield boy say their son spent hours locked outside his home after he was mistakenly dropped off by his school bus instead of being taken to day care.

Greyson Lopez was supposed to go to the Lighthouse Academy after school last week, but instead followed a friend off the bus and wound up at his own home while both of his parents were at work.

“He was home alone,” said his mother Brittany Richmond. “He was ringing the doorbell. He was trying to put the garage code in to our house. When I finally picked him up he was like, ‘Mommy, I forgot our garage code.’”

Greyson’s parents said they were notified that he was locked outside his home after a neighbor saw the boy and texted them.

“Thank goodness my neighbor was there and she reached out to me right away,” Richmond said. “I am thankful that I live in a really good subdivision with very caring neighbors, but it could have been a bad situation.”

Plainfield District 201 said in a statement it is “reviewing” its procedures in wake of the incident and “will do whatever needs to be done to make sure that it doesn't happen again, including walking the student to the bus ourselves.”

Richmond said she has also spoken with the day care and went to her son’s school Monday to see how such an incident happened.

“This could have happened to any child,” she said. “My child could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and this is why kids go missing. It’s terrible.”

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