Date: 05/30/2012
Time: Around 9:30 AM
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Vehicle(s) Involved: School Bus, Ford Escape, Honda Accord, Honda Odyssey
By Tad Vezner, Elizabeth Mohr and Mila Koumpilova
"Authorities have identified a woman who was killed
and several others injured when a school bus, reportedly traveling at
"freeway speeds," slammed into the back of a minivan trapped in
slow-moving traffic, causing a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 94 in
St. Paul.
The crash occurred at 9:28 a.m. Wednesday, May 30, near Cretin
Avenue in the westbound lanes of traffic, according to Minnesota State
Patrol spokesman Lt. Eric Roeske. The bus hit the van, which hit a Ford
Escape, which hit a Honda Accord.
No children were on the bus.
(Censored), 75, of Roseville died at the scene. She was one of
six people in the van and was sitting in the rear of the vehicle, the
State Patrol said.
The five others were taken to area hospitals
with serious injuries.
They included the driver, Loan K. Nguyen, 41, of St. Paul; and
passengers Tuyet D. Duong, 71, of St. Paul; Hoa T. Ho, 65, of Shoreview;
Bang T. Nguyen, 78, of St. Paul; and Hong T. Le, 73, of St. Paul.
The Escape tumbled onto its side but the driver, Jeffrey D.
Radke, 36, of St. Paul, was not seriously injured, Roeske said. The
driver of the Honda Accord sedan, Pamela Johnson, 45, of St. Mary's
Point, was hospitalized with unknown injuries.
The State Patrol identified the bus driver as Tony Thao, 51, of
Cottage Grove. Thao was treated and released Wednesday from Regions
Hospital. He was not taken to the hospital by ambulance, the State
Patrol said.
Everyone was wearing seatbelts, according to a State Patrol
accident report.
A witness told the State Patrol that the school bus was approaching
the slow-moving traffic "at freeway speeds" before slamming into the
minivan, Roeske said. A preliminary report said the three cars in front
of the bus were all slowing down at the time of the incident; witnesses
said traffic was moving at about 15 mph.
As investigators examined the scene and tow trucks hauled away
the wreckage, traffic was down to a single lane late Wednesday morning
Toya Stewart Downey, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul Public
Schools, confirmed the accident involved a school bus operated by a
contractor for the district, Minnesota Central Bus Co.
The bus was heading back to the company's depot, Stewart Downey
said. The district does not yet know what routes the bus driver covered
in the morning before wrapping up the shift, she added.
"The district has no jurisdiction or involvement in the crash," Stewart Downey said.
Frank Ciccarella, the director of safety and training for
Minnesota Central Bus, refused to say how long Thao had been with his
company or whether he had any prior infractions. He said only that his
company was cooperating with the State Patrol.
"We are trying to ascertain what happened," Ciccarella said. "We don't know any of the details yet." "
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