The mother of the 4-year-old who was found wandering alone in Brooklyn Monday morning slammed her daycare’s bus driver and a matron who allegedly forgot the sleeping tot in their vehicle.
“This can’t happen again, because for other families, other moms, this could be worse. They need to do better,” little Nicole Mendez’s mother, Yanet, told The Post in Spanish on Tuesday.
Nicole was found wandering the streets of Gravesend at about 9:30 a.m. Monday after Antoliy Elkin, 76, and Galina Zabarnaya, 63, dropped off a bus full of youngsters to Bam Bam’s Playhouse in Brighton Beach but allegedly failed to check the bus for kids, according to authorities.
Instead, Elkin drove to his Gravesend home, parked the bus and, unaware that Mendez was sleeping soundly in the back, headed inside.
Yanet said Tuesday that she was shocked when she found out her child was missing from the daycare.
“It’s so bad, because this has never happened. I’ve been taking her there since she was 1. How could they not call me to ask where my daughter was?” she said.
“They should’ve checked with me. I signed a sheet that said she was on the bus and at the end of the day I’m supposed to sign again. They have a responsibility to care for my children. They have to call to make sure if my daughter is there or not,” she added.
“All I can think about now is how they forgot her inside the van. They forgot her there and left her there. How could they do that? They had a list,” Yanet said.
Yanet wandered into a park in the neighborhood, where she was scooped up by a Department of Environmental Protection worker around 9:30 a.m.
The DEP worker turned her over to police, who reunited her with Yanet at the 60th precinct Monday evening.
Elkin and Zabarnaya were arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child. They were awaiting arraignment Tuesday evening.