WHITTIER >> A bus driver pleaded not guilty Monday to leaving an autistic Whittier teen in a school bus for several hours on a sweltering day. The teen died of overheating.
Sarah Ardalani, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office, said Armando Abel Ramirez was arraigned at Bellflower Superior Court on a felony count of dependent adult abuse causing death.
Ramirez, who is out on bond, returns to court May 27 to set a date for his preliminary hearing, she said.
Ardalani said a conviction could mean a 9-year prison sentence for the 37-year-old Apple Valley man.
Ramirez worked as a substitute driver for Pupil Transportation Cooperative, which is contracted by the Whittier Union High School District to provide bus service.
Hun Joon “Paul” Lee, an autistic and non-verbal 19-year-old, was found unconscious and lying on the floor of a school bus parked at the district lot at Mulberry Drive and Greenleaf Avenue at 4:25 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2015. Pupil Transportation Cooperative rents the lot.
He died at the scene.
The prosecution believes Lee was in the bus for at least six hours on a day when temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees, according to Ardalani. The teen’s family believe he was in the bus longer.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Lee’s family against the school district and Pupil Transportation Cooperative claimed temperatures neared 100 degrees on Sept. 11, that Lee wasn’t dropped off at school but left in a locked bus for about seven hours.
Ramirez worked a split shift on Sept. 11 and drove the bus carrying Lee, who was a student at Sierra Vista Adult School.
Ramirez thought Lee got off the bus. But the prosecution alleges that Ramirez did not walk to the back of the bus and didn’t look over his shoulder to check if anyone was left in the bus. Ramirez returned the bus to the bus yard.
When Lee didn’t come home that afternoon, his family became concerned, called the school and Whittier police.
Ramirez returned to work that afternoon to check the bus after a dispatcher told him Lee was missing.
Whittier Police arrested Ramirez on March 23. He posted bond two days later.
Lee’s death has led Sen. Tony Mendoza, D- Cerritos, to propose a bill that would require every school bus in the state to have a child-safety alarm system in the back that a driver has to turn off.
