More details have emerged about the fatal bus crash on I-95 near Stafford. The bus driver, Jing Shen Dong, 48, of Staten Island, now faces five charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Shortly after 2:20 a.m. on Friday, May 29, a tour bus driven by Dong crashed into traffic that was slowing for a work zone. The bus struck a Suburban and pushed it into an Acura SUV and several other cars.
Five people died in the crash. They include a family of four from Greenfield, Massachusetts who were traveling in the Acura to a family wedding in South Carolina: 45-year-old Dimitri Doncev, 44-year-old Ecaterina Doncev, and their children, 13-year-old Emily and 7-year-old Mark.
The fifth victim was 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda, who was in the Suburban. She was from Worcester, Massachusetts.
A total of 44 people went to the hospital, three with critical injuries.
Dong was initially charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but three additional charges have been added. He is in custody of the Rappahannock Regional Jail and receiving treatment for injuries from the crash, AOL reported.
“Even as the Virginia State Police continues to conduct a complex investigation, I have determined that probable cause presently exists to establish that the driver of the tour bus caused this crash and, at the time of the crash, he was driving in a criminally negligent manner,” Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen said in a press release.
Driver Had Previous Charges
Dong was scheduled to appear in court this week for a separate speeding incident, NBC4 reported. He had been ticketed in Maryland on March 6 for driving 72 mph in a 50 mph zone. He was driving a bus with passengers on board at the time.
DOT Seeks Records
The Department of Transportation has issued a subpoena to the State of New York to turn over records of Dong’s CDL, entry-level driving training, and the driving school he attended, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin reported on X.
DOT said the subpoena is because it could not “obtain the requested documents through other reasonable means.” It gave New York until 10 a.m. Wednesday to turn over the documents.
The subpoena comes after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted about the crash on X Friday morning.
“Local police confirm the driver of this motorcoach — a man from China who became a U.S. citizen — doesn’t speak English. He received his commercial drivers license from New York State in 2024,” Duffy wrote. “If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus.”
Feature image courtesy Virginia State Police/AP
