A routine Sunday ride home from church turned into a frightening ordeal for four children in Albany, Georgia, after the church bus driver—a deacon at Oakridge Baptist Church—allegedly kicked them off the bus and left them at a busy intersection miles from home. The driver, Erin Menefee, 42, now faces four counts of reckless conduct in connection with the incident, which took place on Sunday, October 11. According to an Albany police incident report, authorities first learned of the situation when a mother arrived at Oakridge Baptist Church to report that her three children, ages 12, 11, and 9, along with their 10-year-old friend, had been removed from the church bus while on their way home. The children were reportedly left at the intersection of Westover Boulevard and Gillionville Road, about four miles from their residence. When the children failed to return home, their mother set out to search for them, and after an anxious search she was unable to find them. She did, however, manage to track down the bus and speak directly with Menefee, who told her that he had dropped the children off “down the road.” The mother still could not find them, so she made her way to the church to speak with the pastor. It was there that a relative contacted her and said Menefee had admitted to kicking the children off the bus because they were cursing and hitting each other. The mother was told that Menefee added, “I don’t play that” way, according to police. Eventually, a passerby discovered the children and drove them home, bringing a measure of relief to the frightened family. Menefee later admitted to officers that he had left the children at the intersection, explaining that there were 20 children on the bus and that he removed the four because he believed their behavior was disruptive and potentially unsafe for the other riders. He also claimed that he had called a relative of the children to come pick them up, but he acknowledged that he should have waited until that relative arrived before driving away. After speaking with authorities, Menefee was arrested and taken to the Dougherty County Jail, and he has since been released after posting bond. It is not yet clear whether he has entered a plea or retained legal counsel, and the Albany Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment.
To truly understand what happened that Sunday afternoon, it helps to pause and imagine the scene through the eyes of a child. The day likely began with the familiar rhythm of a church morning: Sunday clothes, quiet whispers in the pews, maybe a lesson in a classroom, and the chatter of friends and siblings. For many children, riding home on the church bus is one of the small joys of the week—a time to laugh, talk loudly, and maybe be a little silly when adults are not paying close attention. But for these four children, that joyful ride suddenly became lonely and frightening. The bus driver, a deacon—someone they had every reason to trust as a spiritual leader and caretaker—stopped the bus, ordered them off, and then drove away. They were left standing on the edge of a busy intersection four miles from home, with no adult, no ride, and no clear way to get back. The youngest child was only nine years old. The oldest was twelve. They may have been confused, angry, scared, or crying. They may have wondered if something terrible was happening, if they were being punished, or if their parents would ever find them. A busy intersection is not a safe place for anyone, let alone for children, and four miles is a long distance for young legs to walk, especially on roads not designed for pedestrians. The mother’s panic becomes easy to understand. When children do not come home at the expected time, the mind races with every possible danger. She drove through the area searching for them, her fear growing with each empty street. When she spoke to the deacon and he said he had left them down the road, she must have felt a mix of disbelief and dread. To hear later that her children were put off the bus because they were “cursing and hitting each other” would have been shocking enough; to know that no responsible adult stayed with them or waited for another adult to arrive would have felt like a betrayal of trust. The eventual arrival of a passerby who took them home likely brought tears of relief, but the emotional aftermath of such an experience does not simply disappear. The children may now carry a lesson not about obedience, but about how quickly the adults who are supposed to protect them can abandon them.
From Menefee’s perspective, his decision may have seemed, in a distorted way, like discipline or self-defense. As the driver of a bus carrying 20 children, he had an obligation to maintain order and safe conditions for everyone on board. If the four children were truly cursing and hitting one another, he may have felt that their behavior was spiraling out of control and that removing them was the only way to keep the other children safe. He later claimed that he called a relative to come pick the children up, which suggests that he was not planning to leave them indefinitely. In his own mind, he may have been trying to teach them a lesson, to make them realize that their behavior would not be tolerated, especially on a church bus. But if that was his intention, his execution of that idea was dangerously flawed. Leaving four children—including a nine-year-old—at a busy intersection, with no adult present, is not a safe or appropriate consequence for misbehavior. Menefee apparently admitted as much when he acknowledged that he should have waited until the relative arrived before driving away. That admission reveals an important truth: he knew, at some level, that what he had done was wrong. He saw the children as a problem to be removed rather than as young people entrusted to his care. The phrase “I don’t play that” suggests a certain pride in being tough, in refusing to tolerate disrespect, but toughness without wisdom can become cruelty. Being a deacon and a bus driver carries an implicit promise: that the adult behind the wheel will protect the children in their seats, even when those children are difficult, rude, or unruly. Children misbehave; that is part of being a child, and it is especially common when they are in groups, tired after a long service, or simply testing boundaries. An adult of 42, especially one serving in a position of spiritual leadership, might be expected to manage that misbehavior with patience, clear rules, and firm but kind correction. Instead, this incident turned a momentary loss of control into a serious criminal matter with charges that could change the course of his life.
The legal consequences of the incident are serious and real. Menefee faces four counts of reckless conduct, one for each child left along the roadside. Reckless conduct is a charge that typically involves creating a substantial risk of harm to another person through a conscious disregard of that risk. Here, police and prosecutors likely view the act of abandoning children at an intersection as more than just a lapse in judgment; it was a decision that exposed young people to danger from traffic, strangers, weather, or any other hazard that could occur when children are left alone. The fact that there were four children, and that their ages ranged from nine to twelve, makes the danger particularly acute. A busy intersection is unpredictable, and children that age cannot always be trusted to remain on the sidewalk, to look both ways, or to understand the gravity of crossing a major road. Even if no physical harm came to the children, the law recognizes emotional harm and the risk of injury as enough to warrant criminal charges. Menefee was arrested and taken to the Dougherty County Jail, and he was later released after posting bond. At this point, it is unknown whether he has entered a plea or hired a lawyer. It is also unclear how his church, the community, or his fellow congregants are responding. The Albany Police Department has not offered any additional public comment about the case. For Menefee, the personal consequences may extend far beyond the courtroom: a criminal charge can damage his reputation, affect his ability to work, and strain his relationships within the church and the wider community. But perhaps the most profound consequence is the broken trust that now exists between a church ministry and the families it serves. Parents who place their children on a church bus are doing so with the understanding that the driver is a person of faith and moral integrity, someone who will treat children as precious and vulnerable. Hearing that a deacon deliberately left a nine-year-old at the side of the road may make other parents question whether their own children are safe in any church program. The damage is not only to Menefee’s future but to the very sense of community and mutual care that church bus rides are meant to embody.
This incident raises powerful questions about how adults in positions of authority handle difficult, disruptive children, and what responsibility they have beyond mere discipline. Every Sunday, across the country, thousands of volunteers and employees drive church buses, vans, and cars filled with children. They do so out of kindness, service, and often love, but they also accept a tremendous responsibility. Children can be loud, rude, careless, and even mean; sometimes they curse, hit, or refuse to listen. It is not easy to manage a busload of energetic kids, especially after a day of sitting still and following rules. But the answer to misbehavior is never to abandon a child in public, no matter how frustrated or overwhelmed the adult in charge might feel. There are many alternative approaches: pulling over to speak with the children calmly, separating them, asking the church to call parents, or even stopping the ride until order is restored. If the situation is truly dangerous, the driver can contact law enforcement or return to a location where another adult can take responsibility. None of those options require leaving children alone on a street corner. The fact that Menefee thought his action was justified “for the safety of the other children” only highlights the need for training, clear policies, and accountability for those who work with minors. What does it say to children if the adults in their lives use fear and danger as disciplinary tools? What lesson does it teach about God, church, or grace? Children do not stop being children because they are inside a church bus. They still make mistakes, push boundaries, and act impulsively. A church that cannot handle those ordinary flaws with compassion and wisdom may be sending a far more damaging message than any curse word ever could. It is also worth remembering that the mother of the three children did what any parent would do: she searched, she asked questions, she demanded answers, and she did not stop until her children were safe. Her persistence likely played a major role in making sure the children were found and the police were involved. In a way, this is a story not just about a reckless bus driver but about the fierce love of a parent who refused to accept a vague explanation and kept pushing until the full truth came out.
In the end, this is a story about ordinary human flaws colliding with extraordinary trust. A deacon, a bus, a group of children, a Sunday afternoon—all of these are familiar ingredients in the life of a faith community. But one man’s decision to leave four children at a busy intersection transformed an ordinary moment into an event that no one involved will soon forget. For the children, it was likely a terrifying glimpse of abandonment. For the mother, it was a nightmare of not knowing where her children were and whether they were safe. For Menefee, it was the start of a criminal case that will force him to answer not only to a judge but to his own conscience. There is no way to undo what happened that day. The children cannot erase the memory of watching the bus pull away without them. The mother cannot forget the panic of searching for her kids. And Menefee cannot take back the moment when he decided to drive on. What can still be done is to use this incident as an opportunity for reflection and change. Churches and youth programs can look again at their safety policies, train their drivers more carefully, and remind everyone who works with children that patience and compassion are non-negotiable. Parents can be encouraged to talk openly with their children about what to do if they ever feel unsafe or abandoned. And those of us who hear the story can let it prompt us to think about how we treat the children in our own lives, especially when they are difficult or inconvenient. Every child deserves to feel safe, protected, and valued. A moment of frustration does not justify an act of abandonment. If this incident helps even one adult pause before acting in anger, then something may be salvaged from a painful situation. Until then, the community waits, the family begins to heal, and the children may still be learning that even when adults fail them, there are still people who will stop along the road, pick them up, and drive them home.
