A 90-year-old woman with dementia was one of two people stranded inside a MetroAccess van for five hours on Tuesday night.
A cloud of mystery surrounds the exact details of what happened during those hours, but the consequences are crystal clear for two Metro employes: they've been suspended.
According to the Washington Examiner, the MetroAccess vehicle picked up Gertrude Garner, 90, and two other passengers with disabilities at 4 p.m from the Helping Hands Adult Services Center in Prince George's County. Garner's grandson, Perry Robinson, called police when he realized his grandmother never made it home.
Police tracked the MetroAccess vehicle down at a gas station less than a mile from Helping Hands. It was already 9 p.m. When Garner got home, her grandson noticed something was wrong.
"She was upset," Robinson told the Examiner. "She was walking slow, she was shaking. She just didn't look the same."
Robinson said Garner's condition prevented her from fully articulating what had happened.
Metro said the incident involved a communications breakdown between a dispatcher and two drivers. An investigation is reportedly under way.
