Megabus driver was checking his own GPS device when fatal Onondaga Lake Parkway crash occurred

Transportation council plans to launch safety study of highway.

Peter Chen / The Post-Standard.A firefighter photographs the scene of a fatal Megabus accident on Onondaga Lake Parkway in Salina early Saturday morning. At 13 feet tall, the bus was too tall to fit under the railroad bridge that crosses the parkway.

Syracuse, NY - A Megabus driver was distracted by his personal global positioning system device when he crashed Saturday into the Onondaga Lake Parkway railroad bridge, killing four people, Sheriff Kevin Walsh said Tuesday.

There had been a question about whether he was using his own device, or a GPS on-board the double-decker bus. Use of any GPS device while driving is against policy, a bus company official said.

Walsh said the driver, John Tomaszewski, 59, was using his own GPS to find the Regional Transportation Center. He got off Interstate 81 at Park Street, then missed the turn into the transportation center. He apparently tried to take the ramp to Old Liverpool Road and accidentally ended up on the parkway, Walsh said.

One person remains hospitalized after the crash. Lo Wah Chu, 55, of Pennsylvania, was in serious condition Tuesday afternoon at Upstate University Hospital, a spokesman said. Another victim, Mabel Tabb, 79, of Pennsylvania, was released Tuesday from Crouse Hospital, a nursing supervisor said.

Deanna Armstrong, 18, who died when a bus hit a bridge on Onondaga Lake Parkway, was planning to move back to Syracuse. She briefly was a student at West Genesee High School before her family moved to Pennsylvania.

Killed were former Camillus resident Deanna Armstrong, 18, of New Jersey; Kevin Coffey, 19, of Kansas; Ashwani Mehta, 34, of India; and Benjamin Okorie, 35, of Malaysia.

On Monday, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney sent a letter to the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council asking them to immediately launch a safety study of the highway.

SMTC Director James D’Agostino said Tuesday said that his office plans to act on Mahoney’s request. He said the state DOT has been in touch with him, and it’s not clear how the agencies will share responsibilities for the study. He’s not sure when the study would begin.

The railroad company, CSX, declined an interview Tuesday about the bridge it owns. In a three-sentence statement, spokesman Robert Sullivan expressed sorrow for the victims of the crash and said that the bridge was part of an active CSX line used to provide freight service to customers.

Contact Douglass Dowty at ddowty@syracuse.com or 470-6070.