A 12-year-old East Iredell Middle School student’s morning bus ride was interrupted Wednesday when he was left stranded in an unfamiliar neighborhood four miles away from school.

His bus driver, Maria Sanchez, 43, of Tarrington Dr., Statesville, now faces a charge of misdemeanor child abuse for forcing the boy to get off the bus at the intersection of Bell Farm Road and Skyland Drive about 8 a.m., according to an Iredell County Sheriff’s Office press release.

The driver reported that the boy was misbehaving, according to a sheriff’s office press release.

The release said that Sanchez is also a teacher’s assistant in addition to being a bus driver. Iredell-Statesville Schools Public Information Officer Susie Wiberg said that Sanchez was suspended with pay pending the outcome of an investigation by the system.

Without a cellphone or any other way to contact his family except for the phone numbers he memorized, the student knocked on a stranger’s door and hoped for the best, according to his aunt, Brandi Keane.