Marine aides accident victims

[Eric Hood]

On Thursday, September 28, 2006 there was an accident with a school bus and a dump-truck. One of the first people on the scene and helped the kids off of the bus was a Sgt. Gendron, a recruiter from Sussex, NJ. This was reported in the Newark, NJ Star Ledger and the New Jersey Herald of Newton, NJ. Their web site is: www.njherald.com.
Semper Fi!

[thedrifter]

Thank You for sharing!

Here is the story...

Bus driver recalls Sparta crash
Sunday, October 1, 2006

By BILL WICHERT
and JOHN BRAND
Herald Staff Writers

Donna Roio did not see the dump truck flying toward her until it was too late.

"I just remember blood and glass and smoke," Roio said. "I just saw the windshield coming toward me, and that was it."

Speaking by phone on Friday from her bed at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Roio recalled the scene in Sparta Thursday morning when police said a dump truck ran a red light and slammed into the Hopatcong school bus she was driving at the intersection of Routes 181 and 517.

Donald Batson, the 23-year-old driver of the dump truck, was charged with careless driving and failure to stop at a red light on Friday, Sparta police Sgt. Ron Casteel said.

A cautious driver for the school district for the last 13 years with no previous accidents, Roio said she was not even supposed to be driving those 16 Hopatcong High School students to a community service event at Sussex County Technical School that day.

After another driver could not make the trip, Roio was given the assignment earlier in the week. Otherwise, she would have just been at her Windsor Avenue home in Hopatcong.

When the light turned green for her to keep going at 9:30 a.m., Roio said she immediately saw another truck carrying cars speed through the intersection. Thinking all was clear, Roio moved the bus forward and soon collided with the dump truck, sparking a fire inside the bus' engine compartment, according to police.

"It was like a big boom, and glass breaking and kids screaming," said Roio, who was pinned in her seat after the accident and unable to move. "My chest was (covered with) blood."

Several passers-by, including U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Nicholas Gendron, and Batson himself helped walk the students away from bus, put out the fire with an extinguisher on the bus, then Gendron helped free Roio from her seat.

"I'm so thankful for them," Roio said Friday.

After being flown to the hospital Thursday, Roio said she slept about two hours that night and remained in a lot of pain on Friday, suffering from a broken elbow and a puncture wound in her left calf. She said she also received stitches for a cut on her head, and her rib cage hurt.

Carrie Youngs, a social worker at the high school and the chaperone on the bus, suffered a compound fracture of her femur and remained in fair condition at University Hospital in Newark on Friday. Youngs and her relatives could not be reached for comment.

"What the hell was the guy thinking, going through a red light?" Roio asked.

Batson, who lives on Carriage Lane with a Newton mailing address, had his license suspended seven times and was convicted of driving under the influence in Sparta since first getting his license in August 2000, according to the state's Motor Vehicle Commission. He has had a clean record since his last suspension was lifted in November 2004.

Batson wouldn't comment at the scene of the accident Thursday. His employers at D. Mahedy Jr. and Sons in Andover Township have also declined to comment.

Truck drivers are regulated and overseen by the Motor Vehicle Commission, which issues commercial driver's licenses.

MVC spokesman David Weinstein said the state does not impose regulations on trucking companies. Instead, the state has a system in place when determining whether to issue a CDL.

The MVC did a background check on Batson, including running his fingerprints past the FBI, and certified him as a CDL driver. Weinstein said he did not know what date the CDL was issued. The federal government also certified Batson to transport hazardous materials, Weinstein added.

"He went through the proper steps, paid the fees and took the test," the spokesman said. "He met all existing requirements."

Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, R-Sussex, said she was disturbed when she read the list of infractions on Batson's driving record. Her office wrote a letter to the MVC Friday requesting an explanation for why someone with seven license suspensions and a DUI would be allowed to drive commercial vehicles.

Thursday's accident comes as Roio is facing other medical concerns in her family. Her 17-year-old son is expected to undergo knee surgery, and her brother was recently hit head-on by another car while driving on Route 46 in Parsippany about a month ago.

The fact that her brother survived and faces only a shattered ankle bone must mean something for the both of them, Roio said.

"My brother and I both have angels with us," she said. "I'm convinced that angel somehow got me out of there."