By Kelli Lageson

Staff Reporter

ALDEN — A 5-year-old boy who had fallen asleep on the school bus after school was left in the locked bus garage until approximately 9 p.m.

Hemmingsen Transfer, the bus company contracted by Alden-Conger schools, is owned by Scott Hemmingsen. A parent of the child went to Hemmingsen’s home last evening and said the child was missing. Hemmingsen said he then went to check in the garage where he found the child, and Hemmingsen said the child was still asleep.

“It was just like nothing had happened,” Hemmingsen said.

Hemingsen said the driver is a full-time employee of the company who will have a report put into his file for not checking the bus before he locked it and left the garage. Hemmingsen said drivers are supposed to check the buses for children before they leave the bus.

“It’s something that should not happen,” A-C Superintendent Joe Guanella said today. “Processes are in place to cover those situations.”

Hemmingsen said the garge is heated and is located about a block from the school. Hemmingsen said the boy had gotten on a different bus than he usually rides to go to his father’s house, and that the driver wasn’t notified. The driver also doesn’t usually drive the route he drove Thursday

Guanella said the child’s parents called the school to say he was sick Friday.

Look to www.AlbertLeaTribune.com as more information becomes available.