WHITTIER >> A 19-year-old special needs student died after he was left inside a school bus parked at a Whittier Union High School District parking lot for hours Friday afternoon, officials said.
The incident was first reported as a patient in “full arrest” about 4:25 p.m. in a school district parking lot along Mulberry Drive, between Painter and Greenleaf avenues, according to Whittier police and Los Angeles County Fire Department officials.
Firefighters responded to the scene but cancelled their response almost immediately, a fire dispatcher said. He said he had no further information.
Police officers first responded to a report of a “man down” on a bus at the district parking lot, Whittier police officials said in a written statement.
“The bus company, Pupil Transpiration (Cooperative), driver received a call from dispatch that a student was missing,” Whittier police Officer Brad White said. “He (returned) to his bus and that’s where he found this young man unresponsive.”
It was unclear how much time had passed.
When officers arrived at the scene, “They saw several bus drivers performing CPR on an adult male,” according to the statement. “Officers took over in an attempt to revive the adult male, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived on scene shortly after and pronounced his death at 4:33 p.m.”
The teen’s cause of death was unknown, officials added.
There were no obvious signs of trauma on the body, Whittier police Officer Brad White said.
Friday’s afternoon temperatures soared well into the 90s.
Police labeled the incident a “suspicious death.”
It was unclear why the young man he did not get off with the other students when it arrived at the district office. District officials said he attended Sierra Education Center’s transitional program, adjacent to the district parking lot.
The bus driver was cooperating with investigators, White said.
“This tragedy has devastated all of us,” WHUSD Superintendent Sandra Thorstenson said in a written statement.
” We are still gathering information about what happened.  The District is calling for a speedy and thorough investigation to determine how something like this could happen,” Thorstenson said. ” Our hearts are with our student’s parents and family–we’re all grieving.  We’re making ourselves, our counseling services and our staff available to his family and to our students and staff who were close to him.”  — Sandy Thorstenson, Superintendent.”
The Whittier Union High School District contracts for it’s buses and drivers with the Whittier-based company Pupil Transportation Cooperative.
PTC also provides school bus services for the Whittier City Elementary School District, the East Whittier City Elementary School District, the Los Nietos Elementary School District, the Little Lake City Elementary School District, the South Whittier Elementary School District and the El Rancho Unified School District.
Representatives of PTC could not be reached for comment late Friday.