Bus carrying passengers overturns on Thruway

PLATTEKILL - A bus carrying approximately two dozen people overturned Tuesday on the state Thruway, though no one was seriously injured.

The crash occurred around 9:21 a.m. near mile marker 69.5 in the town of Plattekill, between Exit 18 (New Paltz) and Exit 17 (Newburgh) on Interstate 87 southbound, State Police spokeswoman Krista Montie said. Twenty-two passengers were on the bus. No life-threatening injuries occurred, she said.

Eleven passengers were transported to area hospitals, six with moderate injuries and five with minor injuries, according to a release from the Ulster County Executive's Office. The remaining 11 passengers were brought to SUNY New Paltz, where they met with thecounty's Disaster Mental Health team and other mental health professionals while awaiting reunification with family members.

Ulster County Area Transit assisted by transporting uninjured passengers to the reunification site at SUNY New Paltz.

The preliminary investigation determined that the bus was traveling from Schenectady to New York City with the driver and passengers on board, State Police said. More than a dozen local emergency response agencies assisted State Police at the scene.

The driver, identified as Zhangrong Wang, 44, of Woodside, showed no signs of impairment, police added. No tickets were issued, though the investigation remains ongoing.

The left lanes in both the southbound and northbound directions were closed for several hours during the emergency response. The scene was cleared and all lanes reopened by Tuesday afternoon.

"All I remember is seeing it going off the road and saying, ‘This is not going to be good,'" Matt Miller, 66, of Monticello, said while drying off at a gas station on his way home.

Miller had been driving behind the bus in torrential rain when he saw it slow down and careen off the road, landing on its left side. He pulled over and managed to get the bus's windshield off and the driver out, before clearing a path for others to exit. He said he walked down the left wall and windows to lead people out.

Other passersby, including a group of U.S. Army soldiers, arrived to help as well. Miller, a retired construction supervisor and U.S. Army officer, said the response from police, firefighters and emergency medical workers "was all textbook."

"It was the perfect response," he said.

Miller said he was glad to see others stopping to help, with everyone playing a role: He got a tarp out to shield the passengers from the rain; one woman grabbed a roll of toilet paper to treat the injured passengers' cuts.

"There's still good people out there," he said. "There are still Good Samaritans in the world."

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