Van Driver, Matron Escape Jail Time In Death Of Disabled Passenger

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A van driver and a matron have escaped without jail time after admitting their guilt in the tragic Aug. 2, 2011 death of a 48-year old man in their vehicle.

Lonnie Eason had been abandoned in a locked sweltering van in East Harlem for six hours on one of the hottest days in the summer of 2011.

The civil attorney for the family, Robert Sharron, asked how they could miss him when he weighed 210 pounds.

How could they not count, he wondered. Six people got on the bus and only five people got off.

Eason was non-verbal and he'd been taught never to get off the bus unless someone was with him.

So he waited in his seat and nobody ever came.

The driver, Kurt Barry, and the matron, Akilah Toppin, will each be sentenced to 50 hours community service.

In:
• Irene Cornell