Mother says autistic son bitten on school bus in the Bronx

KINGSBRIDGE (WABC) -- An outraged mother is demanding answers after she says her 3-year old son, who is autistic, was bitten on the cheek on a school bus.

But instead of notifying her about the incident, she claims the school told her that her son had ringworm.

"My son can't talk so I can't ask him what happened, can't ask him who did this to him," said the mother, Jackie Rodriguez.

If only Anthony Zapata could tell his mom how he got a red circular mark on his right cheek.

It appeared just two hours after his mother dropped him off at his bus stop in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx.

It was his first day of school. She got a call saying he had ringworm and that she needed to pick him up.

"I was baffled because I'm like, 'how did my son contract ringworms from my home to the school,", Rodriguez said.

But she says her pediatrician told her it was a bite mark.

"Whoever bit him, bit him really hard and I know my child had to cry," she said.

The director of the Children's Learning Center on the Upper West Side would only tell us that another child had ringworm at the time, and that is why they told Rodriguez to pick Anthony up and take him to the doctor.

"There's no way I want him to go back to that school. First of all, they failed to report it right away. On top of that, they were saying that it's ringworm," she said.

In a statement, the Department of Education said, "A DOE bus contractor provides transportation to the school. We are investigating the bus complaint."

But after eight days with no answers, Rodriguez worries her son might not be the only child coming home like this.

"Are the kids parents notified, were they notified? Are they looking into this so another child is not bitten?", she said.