Police: Chester County driver left child in school van for 6 hours

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A Chester County school van driver is in trouble with the law after allegedly leaving a 7-year-old girl alone in the vehicle for six hours.

Iver Rosenlund Jr., 66, of Raintree Lane in Malvern, was charged Thursday following the incident back on March 31st.

He was a driver for Krapf Bus Company, but has since been fired.

According to investigators, Rosenlund picked up the child at her home to take her to the school.

"His single job is to drive this one child to school and he fell down on that one aspect of his job he needed to do," said Tom Hogan, Chester County District Attorney.

The 7-year-old was the only passenger, and Rosenlund was supposed to take her directly to school.

Instead, police say Rosenlund drove past the school and parked the van back at the Krapf Bus Company in Kennett Square.

According to the criminal complaint, Rosenlund told police he became drowsy from cold medicine and medication for ADHD.

Rosenlund allegedly told police he looked over his shoulder before leaving the van and didn't see anyone.

The Krapf Bus Company fired Rosenlund that day after he admitted to investigators he failed to follow policy and walk from the front to the back of the van and check for students.

When the girl failed to appear in school she was marked absent. However, when the school notified her mother, she told them the girl had gotten on the van.

Police say that's when a search began for the girl, ending at 2:50 p.m. when the child was located inside the van - still strapped into her seat, where she had been for the past six hours.

"If this was a month ago, she would have frozen to death. If this was a month later, with the heat, she would have died of heat stroke. We are this close to this being a tragedy," said Hogan..

Kennett Consolidated School District Superintendent Barry Tomasetti told parents in a letter that "words cannot express our level of dismay and disgust."

Rosenlund was charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Recklessly Endangering Another Person. He will appear in court for his preliminary hearing on May 12th.