Prosecutors To Drop Reckless Driving Charge In Virginia Bus Crash, But Four Manslaughter Counts Stand

0 comments

Posted on 2nd October 2011 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , ,

The driver who was asleep at the wheel when a tour bus crashed in Virginia, killing four passengers, will be tried for involuntary manslaughter but a reckless driving charge will be dropped, prosecutors told the Associated Press Friday.

 http://www.ajc.com/travel/1-charge-to-be-1191992.html

Kin Yiu Cheung, 37, of New York is still slated to be tried in January on four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each of those charges carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.                                                                                              

According to AP, Cheung has admitted to authorities that he fell asleep while driving May 31, when he was driving a group from Greensboro, N.C., to New York City. The bus went off Interstate 95 near Richmond, struck an embankment and rolled over. There were 60 people onboard.

Cheung worked for the discount bus line Sky Express, which transportation officials were in the process of closing down. But they had given the bus company a 10-day extension to appeal a failing safety rating.

Bus Driver In Bronx Accident That Killed 15 Charged With Manslaugther

0 comments

Posted on 5th September 2011 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , , , ,

The bus driver at the helm during a crash that killed 15 people in March in the Bronx has been indicted on numerous counts of manslaughter. And Ophadell Williams entered a not guilty plea to those charges, even after a prosecutor said that the defendant knew he was too tired to drive. The end result was that now more than a dozen people are dead.

The fatal crash on Interstate 95, which happened March 12 as the bus was en route from a Connecticut casino to Manhattan, has prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take a series of actions to crack down on the tour-bus industry. And national safety officials are taking a look at the issue, too.

 Williams apparently fell asleep at the wheel, and his bus subsequently accelerated to 78 miles an hour. The vehicle turned over and struck a metal stanchion, which cut it in half from the front to the back. Some passengers were decapitated during the horrific accident.    

 According to The New York Times, at Williams’ arraignment a prosecutor accused the defendant of recklessness — reckless because Williams had been driving during his off hours and was very tired when he was driving back from the Mohegan Sun Casino.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/nyregion/bus-driver-knew-he-was-dangerously-tired-prosecutor-says.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ophadell%20williams&st=cse

 Williams, who didn’t even have a valid driver’s license and has a criminal record, was charged with 15 counts of manslaughter; 15 counts of criminally negligent homicide; 23 counts of assault for the passengers he hurt; reckless driving; and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

 The manslaughter charges alone each have a maximum sentence of 15 years.

 The terrible accident in the spring wasn’t Williams’ first problem as a bus driver, but he had kept the others well hidden. First of all, he had done time in prison for manslaughter and larceny.

 And last week the New York inspector general released a report on Williams’ that said at the time of the crash, he had three suspensions to his driving privileges open under the alias of Eric Williams, The Times reported.

 Williams, upstanding citizen that he is, had provided false information to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles and the bus companies that wound up hiring him.

 The only good to come out of this tragic case is the spotlight it has put on the under-regulated discount tour bus industry.

 But that won’t help the survivors of the 15 victims who were slaughtered in the crash.

 

 

 

New York Bus Crash Kills 14 As The Vehicle Is Sheared In Half

0 comments

Posted on 12th March 2011 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, ,

Fourteen people were killed early Saturday when their tour bus flipped and was then was ripped in half  by a sign stanchion in the Bronx, not far from the Manhattan border.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13crash.html?src=mv

In addition to the dead, the horrific accident left 19 injured, with five critical. In the carnage one person was decapitiated, there were body parts lying inside the bus, and a witness at the bloody crash scene saw a screaming passenger who had lost both his arms.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/12/new-york-city-casino-tour-bus-crash/?ncid=webmail

The World Wide Tours bus was traveling on Interstate 95 in the Bronx, on its way from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, at about  5:30 a.m. It was en route to Chinatown in Manhattan.

The bus driver, 40-year-old Ophadell Williams, told police he lost control when a tracter trailer swerved in his path, clipped the bus and then drove away. Police are investigating that assertion, according to The New York Times.

Police have taken custody of a trailer in Long Island and a tracter in Westchester County, bringing them to Farmington, L.I., to figure out if they were involved in the crash.    

The bus, which was traveling at a high speed, turned over on its side and skidded along a guardrail. It then hit a pole that was holding a large sign that marked the Hutchinson River Parkway exit. 

“The pole burst through the front window and sheared the bus in half laterally, from front to back, along the passenger window line,” according to The Times.

World Wide Tours issued expressed condolences and sympathy for those killed or injured in the accident. The Times reported that the bus company had recently been cited by federal regulators for fatigued drivers, but that its overall safety record was satisfactory.

Church Bus Crash In Lake Arrowhead Kills Driver, Seriously Injures 10 Others

0 comments

Posted on 23rd February 2011 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , ,

Here’s more proof that buses should have seatbelts.

A bus taking teenagers home from a weekend religious retreat in California collided head-on with an SUV on a twisting mountain road, tumbling down an embankment in an accident that killed one man and left nearly a dozen others injured, according to The Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bus-crash-20110222,0,6752356.story

The horrific accident Monday took place near Lake Arrowhead on California 189. The bus, owned by a Korean church in Pasadena, was making a hairpin turn on that two-lane highway when it struck an oncoming SUV.  The bus hit a utility pole, according to The Times, and fell an estimated 25 feet onto a group of trees. The bus came to a stop right before a stream.

There were 22 passengers, most teenagers but also adult chaperones, on the bus. It did not have seatbelts. The driver of the bus, Won Sae Chae, 61, of Los Angeles was killed, pronounced dead at the scene. He was driving the bus for the Light of Love Mission Church.   

The Times reported that the San Bernadino County coroner had issued a statement saying that Chae, a tour bus driver who voluntered for his church on weekends, had lost control of the bus as he drove around a curve, going into the oncoming lane and hitting the SUV.

Rescuers had to cut out and remove bus seats in order to get to some passengers, according to The Times.

Some of the survivors had to be hospitalized, with several air-lifted by helicopter. Ten of them were in critical condition. 

School Bus Crashes Into Snowplow, Hurting 22 Children

0 comments

Posted on 21st January 2011 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , ,

A school bus with elementary school students crashed into the back of a town snowplow in upstate New York Thursday, injuring 22 children and the bus driver, according to the Associated Press.

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP34b9ac5405cd4f36bfb579de6e54bf89.html

The accident took place just before 8 a.m. in Savannah, N.Y., which is about 30 miles west of Syracuse. The two students who were most badly injured in the crash, an 11-year-old boy and a girl, were sitting in the front of the Clyde-Savannah Central School District bus.

The two seriously hurt children were reportedly trapped in the bus for half an hour, and the bus driver was stuck in there for an hour, according to AP.

The front of the bus sustained severe damage, and 16 children were treated and released from a local hospital. The children with the most serious injuries were moved to a Rochester, N.Y., hospital.     

 

 

Bus’s Collision With Train In The Ukraine Kills 41 People

0 comments

Posted on 14th October 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , , ,

Who knows what was going through the mind of the Ukrainan bus driver who — despite warning lights and signals and the screams of passengers — drove into the path of a train Tuesday, causing a crash that killed 41 people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/world/europe/13ukraine.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

The collision of the commuter bus in the central Ukraine and the train also seriously hurt at least 10 additional people, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

During the accident the train pushed the bus almost 100 feet down the tracks, and when it stopped the bus’s body was wrapped around the front of the locomotive.

The bus driver, whose identity wasn’t revealed, was in his 50s and had 36 years of experience as a bus driver, according to The Times.

Survivors of the crash said that the driver stopped at the train crossing, left the driver’s seat, and when the train appeared he drove forward, despite the screams of his passengers, The Times reported.

There was no gate at the crossing where the accident took place.

An investigation has been launched into the crash, and the government said it would pay the families of the victims $12,600 for their losses.

Federal Safety Agency Proposes That New Buses Have Seat Belts

0 comments

Posted on 20th August 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing that new buses be equipped with seat belts, according to The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437610004732860.html?KEYWORDS=%22buses%22+and+%22seat+belts%22

The federal body is asking for public comment on the safety-belt proposal, and also wants feedback on whether seat belts should be installed on existing buses. 

The Journal cited NHTSA figures that said 36 people died in bus accidents in 2008, and that bus travel is one of  the safest methods of travel.

But data shows that lap-and-shoulder belts drop the risk of a being killed in a crash that involves a bus rolling over by 77 percent, according to The Journal.

The regulation that the NHTSA is proposing wouldn’t include transit buses that are used for local transportation. 

Six Killed In Greyhound Bus Crash In Fresno, Calif.

0 comments

Posted on 22nd July 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , , , ,

Six people were killed and more than 30 injured in a Greyhound bus crash early Thursday morning on Highway 99 in Fresno, Calif., according to press reports. The dead included the bus driver. 

http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/Six-dead-in-Greyhound-Bus-crash-at-Highway-99-and-McKinley-Ave-99012474.html

The bus was going from Los Angeles to Sacramento on Highway 99 when it suddently encountered a disabled vehicle at about 2 a.m. A Chevy Trailblazer had flipped over in a single-vehicle accident. The bus veered to avoid hitting the SUV, and instead struck a car and went off the road.

The bus then hit a concrete center divider and then a eucalyptus tree, and stopped. This all took place at the McKinley Avenue off-ramp.   

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/six-dead-in-greyhound-bus-collision-near-fresno.html

Five people were dead inside the bus, which carried 47 passengers, and one died later at a hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times. It also reported that four other people suffered major injuries and were in critical condition and six had minor injuries. 

Police closed the northbound lanes of Highway 99 at Olive Avenue as they went on with their investigation.

–

Atlantic City-Bound Bus Crashes On Bridge, Injuring 24 People

0 comments

Posted on 25th June 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , ,

A bus driver was thrown through a windshield and two dozen people were hurt Thursday when a bus on its way to Atlantic City crashed on a bridge.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/24/2010-06-24_sun_lee_bus_headed_to_atlantic_city_crashes_in_southern_new_jersey_driver_ejecte.html

The bus was traveling from Chinatown in Manhattan to bring gamblers to the Atlantic City casinos. It came to a line of vehicles that had stopped on Route 40 in Atlantic City, and the unidentified bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the cars ahead.

 The bus then struck a center divider, hit a car and struck a concrete retaining wall on the bridge, which is when the driver was thrown through the windshield. The bus then actually rolled over the driver and continued moving, skidding about 100 feet until it stopped. 

The bus driver was in critical condition in the trauma unit at Atlantic City Medical Center.

The hurt bus passengers suffered only minor injuries and were treated at local hospitals following the accident, which took place around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

The 26 passengers who went through the crash uninjured went on to the Tropicana Casino and Resort.

The bus that was involved  in the crash is owned by Sun Lee Blue in Brooklyn.

 

 

Pennsylvania Expands Access to Driving Records After Fatal School Bus Accident

0 comments

Posted on 5th April 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

, , , ,

Following a fatal accident, Pennsylvania will now allow school districts and contractors to see the lifelong driving records of bus drivers. http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=209292

In an announcement Monday, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said that the records that the schools will have access to will include the seriousness of any accidents. The district attorney wants those changes to be effective in time for the start of the next school year.

This charge was sparked by the case of a school bus driver who was charged in a fatal crash in Montgomery County, who more than 10 years ago was also involved in an accident that killed a toddler. As it stands now, schools only have access to driving records dating back a decade.

The man at the center of the issue is school bus driver Frederick Poust, 38, of Schwenksville, Pa. He was charged with vehicular homicide after crashing into a car, killing its passenger Richard Taylor of Gilbertsville, Pa.

Poust had been cited in 1999 for careless driving in an accident where a 2-year-old girl died. That incident set up a national debate on cellphone use while driving.

« Older Entries