06/03/2026
A routine morning school commute turned dangerous on Tuesday after a 62-year-old bus driver allegedly failed to check her vehicle, leaving a sleeping young boy trapped inside. Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office deputies arrested Patricia Barberena after the child managed to escape the parked bus and was found wandering completely alone near a busy intersection.
According to the arrest report, Barberena picked the boy up Tuesday morning from his daycare to transport him to school. The child fell asleep during the ride and never woke up when the bus arrived at the school drop-off zone. Unaware he was still on board, Barberena drove the bus straight to her house, parked it along the county swale, and went inside. When the boy finally woke up, he climbed off the vehicle and wandered into the roadway near Southwest 298th Terrace and 157th Avenue, where a passing driver spotted him and frantically called 911.
The boy's school eventually called Barberena to alert her that the student had been marked absent. As she walked outside to check her bus, she was greeted by responding deputies. Authorities transported Barberena to the South District Station in Cutler Bay for questioning. During her interview with detectives, Barberena explicitly admitted that she completely skipped the mandatory safety sweep of the bus to check for remaining children before locking up and heading into her home.
Barberena was taken into custody and officially charged with one count of felony child neglect without great bodily harm. She was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where she remains booked behind bars as of Wednesday morning with her financial bond listed as "to be set." The specific school the child attends was withheld from the official police report.