7 Children, 1 Adult Injured in Queens Bus Crash

NEW YORK (AP)  -- A private van shuttling children to school collided with a city bus Friday, injuring seven children including a 9-year-old girl who was hospitalized in critical condition, officials said.

1010 WINS AUDIO: Al Jones Reports

After the crash, state officials said the van appeared to be carrying the children illegally. It had not been inspected properly, and it was of a type not authorized to transport schoolchildren, they said.

Police and school officials said the accident happened at 8 a.m. in the Utopia section of Queens when the van made a left turn into the path of the oncoming bus.

The ensuing crash sent the van into a violent spin, during which a 5-year-old boy tumbled from the vehicle into the street, authorities said.

That child suffered relatively minor injuries, but a 9-year-old girl remained in critical condition Friday evening at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center's Schneider Children's Hospital.

The other children, ranging in age between 5 and 12, were in stable condition at area hospitals or had been treated and discharged, police and hospital officials said.

Police arrested the van's 60-year-old driver on charges of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. He complained of chest pains after the crash and was hospitalized, police said. No information was immediately available on whether he had a lawyer, and he had no listed phone number.

Six of the children were from Public School 178, also known as Holliswood Elementary School, in Jamaica, Queens. The seventh was going to a day care center in the borough's St. Albans section.

The Department of Education sent counselors to the school to console faculty and students.

School system spokeswoman Debra Wexler said parents had hired the private van company to drive their children to school.

A Department of Transportation spokeswoman said the 15-passenger Dodge did not meet state regulations for transporting schoolchildren. In general, 15-passenger vans are prohibited from transporting school children for safety reasons, said department spokeswoman Jennifer Post. Also, school buses are required to be inspected twice annually by the transportation department, and the van was not, she said.

Photo by 1010 WINS' Al Jones

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