US Investigators: No Evidence Bus Was Hit Before Crash

VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
April 16, 2011

U.S. federal investigators say they have found no evidence a tour bus was clipped by a large truck, just before the bus veered off a highway in New York City last month and crashed, killing 15 people.

In a preliminary report released Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board said the bus was traveling at its maximum speed of 125 kilometers per hour less than a minute before it crashed, but then slowed down. The speed limit at the site is 88 kilometers per hour.

The report did not cite the exact cause of the March 12 accident.

Prosecutors are trying to determine whether to file criminal charges against the bus driver.

The driver's lawyers say the crash was caused by a truck swerving into the lane of the bus, forcing it to veer off the highway before it crashed into a traffic sign post.

Some surviving passengers who are suing the driver allege he was asleep at the time of the crash.

Last month, a U.S. federal transportation official told a U.S. Senate committee a truck driver accused of bumping the bus off the road has testified he did not hit the bus, but instead saw it crash in front of him. A video camera mounted to the windshield did not record the accident.

The bus was traveling back to New York City in the early-morning hours from a trip to a casino in the neighboring state of Connecticut.