Bus Driver Charged for Virginia Crash

On Friday, a driver and two passengers were killed in Virginia when their small truck was destroyed in a pile-up involving a Coach America charter bus and logging truck. The incident happened on Interstate 85, and the bus was travelling with college students from North Carolina. According to Virginia State Police Sergeant Thomas Molnar, the small truck had been smashed between the bus and logging truck near I-85 mile marker 59.

It’s been reported that the three casualties – two men and a woman – were pronounced dead at the scene. There was a fourth person in the pickup truck – a woman – who survived and was flown to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Medical Centre by Medfligtht helicopter with serious injuries. However, the injuries were lucky not to be life-threatening. Authorities have, so far, been withholding the names of the victims until their identities are confirmed and their relatives have been notified by police.

As for the other people involved in the crash – the logging driver wasn’t injured and the charter bus driver was taken to VCU Medical Center by ambulance with serious injuries (none of them were life-threatening). There were 49 students (ages 16 to 22) and a chaperone from North Carolina A&T State University on the bus. Molnar said that the group was on its way to a National Society of Black Engineers conference in Baltimore. Of them, four students were checked for potential injuries at the scene, and none were taken to the hospital. Following the crash, the group was taken to a nearby fire station on school buses to wait for another charter bus to arrive and take them the rest of the way.

The accident happened in the left lane of the interstate, with the logging truck in back, the smaller one behind it and the charter bus at the rear. The right lane had been shutdown for repairs. Police say that the pickup truck had out-of-state licence plates and was sandwiched between the two larger vehicles. It appeared that the impact sent the front end of the vehicle into the rear of the logging truck, which had a fresh load of timber on board.

Later, the logging truck was driven from the scene, but the bus had to be taken off the road by a tow truck due to the front end being so damaged. The left lane of the interstate was finally reopened after nearly six hours, and the right lane stayed closed. State police crash team members were investigating the circumstances of the crash, and the bus driver, 56-year-old Marlverse L. Vanloan, has been charged in the investigation, as the bus started the chain reaction. The Dinwiddie County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office is review the case to decide if more charges will be filed.