Driver was using GPS to find bus station, and never braked before hitting bridge.
Investigators examine the area around the bus driver at the scene of a fatal Megabus accident on Onondaga Lake Parkway after the bus was pulled upright. The bus hit the railroad bridge abutment at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday and rolled onto its side. This story was written by staff writers Tim Knauss and Catie O'Toole.
Syracuse, NY - Deanna Armstrong, 18, a former West Genesee High School student, was returning to Syracuse to visit friends when she died in the double-decker bus crash that killed four people early Saturday morning on Onondaga Lake Parkway.
A Temple University student, a Malaysian preacher, and an information technology specialist from India also were killed when the top of the bus slammed into a low railroad bridge over the highway. Another two dozen passengers were injured.
Armstrong, of Voorhees, N.J., appears to have been the only passenger on the Toronto-bound bus who was scheduled to get off in Syracuse, Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh said.
“She was coming to Syracuse to meet some friends,” Walsh said.
Walsh said Armstrong moved from Camillus to New Jersey six months or a year ago.
She spent most of her junior year at West Genesee. It was unclear where she lived before that.
Marsha Schoff, a recently retired history teacher, said Armstrong was a quiet student who excelled at art. Armstrong enrolled last fall and attended about three-quarters of the year before moving, Schoff said.
“She always had a smile on her face,” Schoff said.
Armstrong was the last of the four victims to be identified by police. Others who died in the crash were Kevin Coffey, a 19-year-old Temple student who was going to visit Toronto; Benjamin Okorie, 35, of Malaysia, who was on his way to preach at a Buffalo church; and Ashwani Mehta, of India, an IT specialist taking a day trip to visit Niagara Falls.
Bus driver John Tomaszewski had a bus full of sleepy passengers just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday when he missed the turn for the Regional Transportation Center on Park Street after exiting Interstate 81 North, Walsh said.
Tomaszewski headed down Onondaga Lake Parkway looking for a way back to the station — unaware that his double-decker Megabus was too tall for the bridge that it was about to hit.
Tomaszewski, 59, who received his commercial driver’s license in December and began driving for Megabus in the spring, has not told sheriff’s investigators why he missed several warning signs before hitting the bridge.
Tomaszewski said he was driving slowly through the early morning darkness, going about 35 mph in a 55 mph zone, and using a global positioning satellite unit to find his way, Walsh said.
Sheriff’s investigators do not believe Tomaszewski tried to brake before hitting the 10-foot, 9-inch CSX railroad bridge over the parkway, Walsh said.
“He never saw the bridge,” Walsh said. “He just hit the bridge.”
About 75 firefighters and ambulance workers from many fire departments responded.
Awakened by his pager at about 2:30 a.m. when the 911 dispatcher called, Liverpool Fire Chief Gary Vincitore was among the first to arrive. He was on the scene within four or five minutes, he said.
It was horrific.
“My first thoughts were, we got a mess here,” he said.
Several passengers were confirmed dead right away. “A few of the bodies were really bad,” he said.
Four firefighters boarded the bus, began assessing the medical condition of the injured, and helping evacuate the others. It took about 90 minutes to get all of the surviving passengers off the bus, he said.
“There was a little (screaming). Once they saw us there, they calmed down real quick. They knew help was there,” he said.
Vincitore said bus driver Tomaszewski was conscious and talking, “but not making a lot of sense.”
“He had some large cuts on him, down the side of his face. He was bleeding pretty good,” the chief said.
Tomaszewski, of Yardville, N.J., was release Sunday from Upstate University Hospital.
In his 30 years as a firefighter, no other accident that Vincitore has been at has produced as many casualties, he said.
A handful of the 38 Liverpool firefighters who responded were still troubled Sunday by what they saw, Vincitore said. Liverpool firefighters will meet with county officials and Rural Metro Ambulance officials at 7 p.m. tonight at their fire station to review the rescue operation and offer counseling to any rescue workers who need it, he said.
Megabus is working with the families of those who died to make arrangements to bring families to Syracuse or return their loved ones back to their families, Walsh said.
Megabuses are equipped with global positioning systems for tracking and security purposes, but drivers are not supposed to use GPS when they are lost, said Don Carmichael, senior vice president for safety and operations at Coach USA, Megabus’ parent company. The company has not authorized its drivers to use GPS for directions, he said.
Company procedure calls for drivers to stop and contact Megabus’ operations center to ask for directions, Carmichael said. He said he did not know whether Tomaszewski had done so.
Four passengers who spent Saturday night in local hospitals showed improvement by Sunday.
Lo Wah Chu, 55, of Pennsylvania, was in critical condition Saturday at University Hospital. She was transferred to a rehabilitation unit at the hospital Sunday, the sheriff said.
Christine Alderman, 44, of New York City, had been in serious condition at University after the crash. She was released Sunday, Walsh said.
Carl Kerr, 51, of Pennsylvania, chose to be transferred from Crouse Hospital in Syracuse to a hospital in his hometown of Philadelphia, a nursing supervisor said. His condition had improved from serious to good by Sunday afternoon, the nursing supervisor said.
Mabel Tabb, 79, of Philadelphia, remains at Crouse Hospital. Her condition improved from serious to fair on Sunday evening, a nursing supervisor said.
Tomaszewski started driving the Philadelphia to Toronto route July 21 when Megabus inaugurated the service and was a regular driver on the route, Carmichael said.
Megabus officials told sheriff’s investigators Tomaszewski had driven the same route about eight to 10 times; Tomaszewski told investigators he’d driven it about 20 times, Walsh said.
Staff writers John Mariani and Mike McAndrew contributed to this article. Catie O’Toole can be reached at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.
More coverage:
» The parkway: Heartbreak on a road never built for the way it's used today
» Driver of double-decker bus was lost, trying to find Syracuse bus station.
» Megabus passengers awake to crash, blood and cries for help (video)
» Police release names of Megabus passengers treated in hospitals
» Salina railroad bridge is often struck despite warning signs, flashing lights
» Driver of Megabus that hit Onondaga Parkway bridge was familiar with Syracuse route
» Upstate hospital, Red Cross mobilized an organized medical response for crash victims
» Your Comments: Breakaway bars won't work; we've tried that
» Photo gallery: Four are dead in Megabus crash on Onondaga Lake Parkway
