Girl, 5, gets off school bus at wrong stop

ST. CLOUD, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Five-year-old Gracie Riggle is all smiles and giggles when she's playing at home,  but she was scared on Tuesday, when she got off her school bus.

"I accidentally got off on the wrong stop. I didn't see my mommy's car," she said, adding that it left her "sad, nervous, and scared."

Tracy Riggle-Lyle is Gracie's mom. She got a call from her 18-year-old daughter who was at the right bus stop, but didn't see Gracie.

"The most upsetting part about it, is when we went to call the school district about it, the district was already closed," she said.

Panicked, mom drove to her daughter's school. Meanwhile, Gracie was a mile and a half away, lost at the wrong bus stop.

"These grown-ups come up to me and say 'Where's your parents?' And then, I didn't know."

Those parents called the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, which contacted Hickory Tree Elementary. Once the mistake was realized, deputies took Gracie to be reunited with mom.

"I said, 'Thank you!' and I was so so happy."

The Osceola County School District says Gracie's bookbag was tagged as a new student, and she was on the right bus, but they say the driver was distracted by three new students and did not notice when Gracie got off at the wrong stop.

"To me, that's my precious cargo!  They are hauling around. It's my five-year old; that's not a package that needs to be delivered," said mom.