5-year-old girl safe after being left alone on bus

A 5-year-old girl was found safe Thursday after her mother briefly exited the passenger tour bus they were riding and the bus drove off with the child asleep in the back.

The mother called 911 shortly before 2:30 a.m. from the TA Travel Center on Dillon Road, just off I-10, Highway Patrol Officer Darren Meyer said.

Officers learned the mother had been traveling with two children on the westbound bus to Los Angeles, and when it stopped at the travel center, she left her daughter sleeping and went inside to change the diaper on her 2-year-old son. When she came out, the bus was gone, Meyer said.

The mother immediately called authorities. CHP officers went to the Main Street overpass near Cabazon, and watched for approaching buses.

Officers made a traffic stop and searched one bus, but didn’t find the child. They pulled over a second bus near the Morongo Trail exit from Interstate 10, and found the child still asleep in the back, Meyer said.

The mother was picked up at the travel center in Indio and taken to the Morongo Casino Travel Center, where the family was reunited.

With the family back together, the tour bus departed for Los Angeles.