Key takeaways:
- Jing Sheng Dong was indicted Monday on three additional involuntary manslaughter counts, bringing the total to five, plus one reckless driving charge.
- Virginia State Police said the bus allegedly failed to slow for traffic near an I-95 work zone and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, setting off a multi-vehicle crash.
- The five victims were identified as Dmitri Doncev, Ecaterina Doncev, Emily Doncev, Mark Doncev and Priscilla Mafalda.
A tour bus driver accused of triggering a deadly chain-reaction crash on Interstate 95 in Virginia now faces five counts of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors added new charges Monday in the wreck that killed five people and injured nearly four dozen others.
Jing Sheng Dong, a 48-year-old driver from Staten Island, New York, was indicted by a grand jury on three additional felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and one misdemeanor count of reckless driving, Stafford Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen said Monday. Dong had previously been charged over the weekend with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Each involuntary manslaughter count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if there is a conviction, Olsen said.
Dong also was injured in the crash and remained hospitalized Monday. Prosecutors said he is in the custody of Virginia jail officials and will be taken to the Rappahannock Regional Jail after he is discharged. Virginia State Police arrested Dong on Saturday and served him with felony warrants at the hospital, according to Olsen.
The crash occurred in the early morning hours on I-95 southbound in Stafford County as vehicles were approaching a work zone. Virginia State Police said an initial investigation showed traffic was slowing when the bus driver allegedly “failed to slow for traffic” and struck a Chevrolet Suburban. The Suburban then hit an Acura SUV and other vehicles.
Olsen said Saturday that evidence gathered so far showed the tour bus was traveling “at a high rate of speed” when it hit multiple vehicles moving slowly through the work zone. He said there was enough evidence to suggest Dong was driving in a “criminally negligent manner.”
Authorities described the crash as a chain reaction involving at least eight vehicles. State police said the bus initially struck the Suburban, which then hit the Acura SUV and additional vehicles. The BBC reported that one vehicle caught fire.
Source reports differed on the date of the crash. Virginia State Police, as cited by CBS, said it happened at about 2:35 a.m. Friday, May 30. The BBC described the incident as occurring on May 29.
Four of the people killed were in the Acura. CBS Boston identified them as a family from Greenfield, Massachusetts: 45-year-old Dmitri Doncev; his wife, Ecaterina, 44; their 13-year-old daughter, Emily; and their 7-year-old son, Mark. CBS Boston reported that the family was traveling to a wedding in South Carolina.
The fifth person killed was 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was in the Suburban first struck by the bus, state police said.
Nearly four dozen other people were injured, including Dong. The BBC reported that roughly 44 people were taken to area hospitals after the collision, three of them with critical injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating along with Virginia State Police. The NTSB said the bus was operated by E&P Travel of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and was carrying passengers from New York to North Carolina.
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