Sheepshead Bay Mother Searches For Answers In Possible Abuse Of Autistic Daughter
Sheepshead Bay mom Konstantina Vellios, 35, is trying to get to the bottom of why her 14-year-old autistic daughter got off the school bus shirtless and scratched up, but the bus operator and the school she came from have been short on answers.
The Daily News reports:
Eleana Vellios, who is largely nonverbal, was scraped up and traumatized when she left the bus outside her Sheepshead Bay home on Nov. 15.
“My child came out of the bus half-naked with scratches all over her back, shoulders, her spine, under her arms, her neck — pretty much everywhere,” her mother, Konstantina Vellios, 35, told the Daily News.
The bus driver and matron told Eleana’s baby-sitter, who was waiting for her at the stop that day, that the teen must have been injured at her school, the Association for Metroarea Autistic Children, near Union Square. But officials at the school assured the mother that her daughter left the school uninjured — and the mother said she believes them.
Ever since the incident, Eleana refuses to use the bus. Although she’s usually nonverbal, the teenage girl said she was “afraid” and “lady kick, hit.”
Vellios has since taken leave of her job to shuttle her daughter to and from class.
The driver for the bus company, Careful Bus Service, said the girl already had the scratches on her, and they informed the babysitter when they saw it.
The NYPD is investigating a case of possible child abuse. The Department of Education is also investigating.
