JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – Parents are concerned for their children after used needles were found just feet from a Missouri school bus stop.
It happened at Highway 141 and Fiedler Lane near Fenton. The needles were found right by a stop sign, and two parents said they saw blood and a brown substance on one of the needles.
“There’s, like, five needles just [lying] there and I was pretty shocked about it,” parent Ashley Mantia said.
She was among the first to find the needles Wednesday morning as she walked her 5-year-old son to the bus stop for his first day of kindergarten.
“I had to explain to my son that, you know, you can’t touch them or step on them or go near them, you know, so it’s pretty sad that you have to tell your small child stuff about that,” she said.
The disturbing discovery was even more troubling for Ashley and her fiancé, Mark; both are recovering heroin addicts.
“Somebody gets poked with it, who knows what could happen,” Mark Brister said.
The bus stop is used by children from Meramec Heights Elementary.
Several people at the stop Friday afternoon knew about the needles, including Holly Meador, who was picking up her nephew.
“It frustrates me because that should not be around kids whatsoever,” she said.
KTVI learned a woman picked up the needles Friday morning, put them in a container and took them to the nearby Saline Valley Fire Protection District headquarters. No injuries were reported.
Battalion Chief Bill Modrosic spoke about the dangers the needles pose.
“You can puncture your skin and then if there’s any kind of communicable disease on the needle, you can introduce it to yourself and become sick yourself,” he said.
Fox C-6 spokesperson JP Prezzavento said district officials were just made aware of the situation earlier Friday when a parent called Meramec Heights.
A district released statement reading, in part, “Student safety and security is our top priority and we will always investigate any concerns and alert the proper authorities.”