Woman claims driver left kids alone in van while he grabbed coffee at Dunkin'

Driver says 17-year-old aide was watching children inside van

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A woman called the Broward Sheriff's Office last week after she said she saw a martial arts academy van full of children in a parking lot without any adult supervision. 

"This guy just went to Dunkin' Donuts and left the whole bus unattended," Angela Schmidt said.

Schmidt recorded video with her cellphone that shows a van full of children parked in front of Dunkin' in Hollywood last Friday. She claims they were left unattended while the driver went in to get coffee.

"There were keys in the van. Absolutely no adults. The little girl was banging on the window," Schmidt said.  

Local 10 News reached out to Family Tae-Kwon-Doe in Fort Lauderdale -- the after-school facility carting the children from school to practice.

"She posted it without knowing everything," the driver, Jason Hyuksun, said. "I'm very upset about this. Oh, my God." 

Hyuksun, who also owns the business, said the claim that children were left alone is false. 

According to Hyuksun, the company picks up the students from Sheridan Hills and Stirling Elementary as they have been doing for two years.

Hyuksun said what we don’t see in the video is the 17-year-old aide sitting in the back watching the children. 

Since the video was posted to Facebook, Hyuksun said he's gotten so many calls, he's had to remove the signage from his van.

Meanwhile, Schmidt is still standing firm in her story.

"Anyone could have gotten in there and taken the van, taken a kid," she said. "I could have taken a kid."

Despite the bad publicity over the incident, Hyuksun is not facing charges. 


About the Author:

Alex Finnie joined the Local 10 News team in May 2018. South Florida is home! She was raised in Miami and attended the Cushman School and New World School of the Arts for high school.