Arrest of Chesco driver accused of leaving girl, 7, in van

The Chester County bus driver accused of leaving a 7-year-old West Grove girl on his school van for an entire school day last week was arrested Thursday.

Iver T. Rosenlund Jr., 66, of the 1400 block of Raintree Lane, Malvern, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.

Rosenlund was fired by the Krapf Bus Co. after police say he picked up the girl - his only passenger - then drove past her school and parked the van at the bus company lot the morning of March 31.

The girl, a student at Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center in Kennett Square, was marked absent from school. When the school told her mother about the absence about 2:40 p.m., she said her daughter had gotten in the school van that morning, the complaint said.

The school contacted Rosenlund, who returned to the bus lot about 2:50 p.m. and found the girl still strapped in the seat she had been in for about six hours, police say.

Authorities have not identified the girl. The building has an enrollment of 300 kindergarten pupils and also offers instructional support, speech and physical therapy and special education.

In an interview with police, Rosenlund allegedly said he became drowsy from over-the-counter cold medicine and medication he took for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. After parking the van in the lot, he said, he looked over his shoulder and did not see anyone on the bus, the complaint said. So he left.

According to company policy, drivers must walk to the rear of the van to check for students.

"Leaving a young child unattended in a vehicle is serious and could have had tragic consequences," said Edward Zunino, chief of the Kennett Square Police Department. "This bus driver's conduct put this little girl at risk."