Bus driver fired after 4-year-old left on bus

WELLSTON, Mo. -- A school bus driver has been fired after a 4-year-old girl left on the bus later was found in tears wandering along a busy street.

The suburban St. Louis girl, Kyra Pratt, apparently fell asleep Thursday afternoon on the Laidlaw school bus, woke up alone at the bus and wandered out close to Page Avenue near Interstate 170 before passing motorists rescued her and took her to Vinita Park police.

On Friday, Wayne Gensler, area general manager for Laidlaw Transit Inc., said the unidentified driver -- a 12-year veteran -- had been suspended for not properly checking her bus for sleeping children before she left it on the lot near I-170. The driver was later fired.

Gensler said the company requires a driver to walk through the bus, checking under all seats, and press a button in the back before leaving. If the button isn't pressed, he said, the bus horn begins honking after one minute. The horn never sounded on that bus, he said.

The girl may have been sleeping under a seat, Gensler said.

Laidlaw officials said the driver apparently had no major incidents on her record.