Updated at 6 p.m. to add bus company comment
A school bus driver is facing criminal charges after leaving a 7-year-old girl in a van for an entire school day, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said on Thursday, April 9.
Hogan made the announcement two days after the Kennett Consolidated School District superintendent issued a public apology for the incident, saying it elicited “dismay and disgust.”
Iver T. Rosenlund Jr., 66, of Malvern, faces charges that include endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person. He had been employed by Krapf Bus Company but was terminated following the discovery of the abandoned child on March 31.
“This case is a parent’s worst nightmare: you put your child on a school bus and the child seems to disappear,” said Hogan. “The defendant’s misconduct seriously endangered this little girl. In the weather we had a month ago, she would have frozen to death. A month from now, she could have died from heat stroke. We are all lucky that she was not seriously hurt.”
According to the criminal complaint, Rosenlund picked up the girl, his only passenger, at her home at 8:10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31. Instead of taking her to school, he drove to the Krapf Bus Company lot on South Walnut Street in Kennett Square. When the child failed to appear for school, she was marked absent, the complaint said.
At 2:40 p.m., the school notified the girl’s mother of the child’s absence, which the mother disputed. School personnel contacted Rosenlund at 2:50 p.m., and he returned to the bus lot and found the girl “still secured in her car seat on the school van,” the complaint said.
During an investigation by Kennett Square Police, Rosenlund admitted that he did not follow Krapf’s policy of checking their vehicles before leaving to make sure that there are no children still on board. Rosenlund said “he believes he became drowsy from taking some over-the-counter cold medication and also medication for ADHD,” the complaint said.
Kennett Square Police Department Police Chief Edward A. Zunino said that leaving a young child unattended could have had tragic consequences. “I am very proud of the hard work my officers put into this investigation bringing about the defendant’s arrest,” he said.
Hogan said he appreciated the cooperation investigators received from the school district and the bus company. He said the case has been assigned to the District Attorney’s Child Abuse Unit for prosecution.
Rosenlund, who will receive a summons by mail, will be arraigned at his preliminary hearing, which is scheduled for May 12, court records said.
Records show that Rosenlund has accumulated several traffic citations since 2010. He has pleaded guilty twice to failing to obey traffic lights, once to driving an unregistered vehicle, and once to driving a vehicle that wasn't inspected. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, records said.
Shawn McGlinchey of Krapf's Safety Department said he believed that the state records are inaccurate. He said Rosenlund had a clean record and met "the approved MVR [Motor Vehicle Records] matrix" used for ensuring students' safety.
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