Virginia authorities slammed a Queens-based bus driver with four involuntary manslaughter charges today in the fatal I-95 crash of a Chinatown-bound bus.
Kin Yiu Cheung, 37, of Flushing allegedly nodded off behind the wheel of his Sky Express bus when it rolled over early Tuesday morning. Four women were killed, and 54 people, including Cheung, were injured.
Cheung is to appear in court later today for a bail hearing. He was allowed free on $3,000 bail before today’s filing of manslaughter charges.
A state trooper was on the scene within a minute of the 4:55 a.m. crash in rural Caroline County, Va., 300 miles from New York. She had to keep surviving passengers from crawling out of the bus into oncoming traffic, a Virginia prosecutor said.
Cheung’s bus was on its way to Chinatown from Greensboro, NC.
Court records show Cheung had previous traffic violations in Virginia dating back to 2003, including speeding, following too closely, failing to obey a highway sign and failing to stop or yield entering a highway.
It was not clear whether the violations were personal or while driving a commercial vehicle.
Sky Express, which employed 53 drivers, was shut down after the accident by the US Department of Transportation. Federal inspectors rated it one of the nation’s worst bus companies in the category of driver fatigue.
Two Queens woman were killed in the crash. Authorities identified them as Karen Blyden-Decastro, 46, of Cambria Heights, and Josefa Torres, 78, of Jamaica.
With Post Wires