Early this morning, a Trailways bus from Kingston bound for New York City rear-ended a tractor-trailer, leaving the driver hospitalized and nearly half of the bus's 16 passengers with minor injuries. LoHud.com reports:
The trucker told troopers that he slowed down when another driver hestitated coming out of the Sloatsburg rest area, police said. The commuter bus’s front driver’s side then hit the right rear of the tractor-trailer, just across from the Sloatsburg service area.
The 5:35 a.m. accident crushed the driver’s side of the bus cab, trapping driver Dean Vardakis, 57, of Washingtonville, N.Y., inside and injuring his leg and pelvic area, Sgt. John Antonelli said.
“The bus driver was trapped in his seat for a period of time,” Antonelli said.
The Daily Freeman reports that a Saugerties man was aboard the bus, but not among the injured:
Tress Palmer of Saugerties said her husband, Tom Doran, was on the bus when the accident occurred but was not hurt.
“He said he was asleep when it happened,” Palmer said. “He woke up on the floor of the bus.”
