Minnesota bus driver lost for about an hour

A Minneapolis-area school bus with five children aboard was lost for about an hour Tuesday morning, setting off a high-tech search mission that ended with law enforcement catching up to the bewildered rookie driver and the kids in a Target parking lot.

On his second day behind the wheel, the driver for Metropolitan Transportation Network was heading from Brooklyn Center, Minn., to a school in Crystal, about five miles away, when he mistakenly went off course, according to the State Patrol.

Once bus dispatchers detected a problem, they notified the patrol about 9:20 a.m., said Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske.

Thanks to the bus having a global positioning system locator, troopers found the bus about 10 minutes later in a Target lot in Crystal, Roeske said. It was about 2 miles north of the school.

“The kids started giving him directions,” Roeske said. “He still got lost and didn’t realize his radio was off. He was a little bit unsure what was going on when he was stopped.”

The students, ages 9 to 12, were supposed to arrive at school between 8 and 8:30 a.m., said Keith Lester, superintendent of the West Metro Education Program, which includes students from many Minneapolis suburbs.

Paramedics checked out the kids, and a bus company supervisor arrived and got the kids to school.

“We’re not happy with it but really relieved to know our kids are OK,” Lester said. “We’ve been assured he won’t be driving our kids anymore.”