Two passengers who were injured in a deadly motor coach crash in August on the Thruway have sued the bus driver and a Staten Island tour company, alleging the crash was the result of negligence and recklessness.
Mohammad Rahman and Zakir Hossain, both of Long Island City, Queens, filed a lawsuit less than a month after the Aug. 22 accident that killed five passengers and sent dozens more people to area hospitals.
The motor coach was traveling eastbound to New York City following a trip to Niagara Falls when it veered onto the right shoulder and then went left, crossing both travel lanes and entering the center median before swerving back into the travel lanes and rolling off the Thruway onto its right side, near the Pembroke exit in Genesee County.
Attorney James W. Coscia said Rahman and Hossain were injured in the crash and are still being treated for their injuries.
Coscia said he had few details about the accident and the investigation into it.
“I don’t have much information on this, considering the investigation is closed. I’ve tried to obtain as much police report information as I can, or any type of investigation report from this, but it’s all been closed and I haven’t been provided anything,” said Coscia.
He declined to comment further about his clients, “until we learn more about the accident and their further treatment.”
“I’m not going to have any statements out there from my clients until this case moves along a little bit more,” said Coscia.
Rahman and Hossain could not be reached on Friday for comment.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 12 in Queens County State Supreme Court, was the first of what could be several stemming from the crash. Fifty-three passengers were on the bus at the time, and five of them were pronounced dead at the scene. Some of the injured passengers were still being cared for in Buffalo-area hospitals.
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State police have said the driver, Bin Shao, 55, became “distracted” just prior to the crash but declined to specify how, other than to say it was not by another vehicle.
They also said that Shao, of Flushing, Queens, showed no signs of impairment.
Shao and M&Y Tours of Staten Island were named as defendants in the lawsuit, which gave no additional details about what happened in the accident or the injuries suffered by the plaintiffs.
M&Y Tour Inc. had a satisfactory rating with the federal Department of Transportation and a good rating with the New York Department of Transportation, according to a search of federal and state records.
The Safety Measurement System for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed no driver fitness violations, no unsafe driving violations and no reportable crashes over the past two years for the tour bus company, which is based in Staten Island.
Minor violations were found in about 21% of the 43 vehicle inspections conducted between July 2023 and this past July for M&Y Tour. The national average was 23%.
Oishei Children’s Hospital expected to discharge its last crash patient Tuesday, while ECMC will still be caring for two passengers for another couple of weeks.
Out of 59 driver inspections, there was one minor violation on July 22 for noncompliance with hours of service. Violation examples in the hours of service category include operating a bus while ill or fatigued and requiring or permitting a driver to drive more than 11 hours, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is part of the Department of Transportation.
The carrier was cited for 47 vehicle maintenance violations, ranging from nonworking lights to a flat tire, in inspections dating back to July 27, 2023.
The Safety Measurement System assigns a severity weight to violations and comes up with a monthly performance score for bus operators. No acute or critical violations were detected for M&Y, which had a most recent on-road performance score of 3.82.
The score means that 48% of motor carriers in the same safety event group as M&Y had better on-road performance.
The crash involved a 61-passenger 2005 Van Hool T2145 motorcoach. State police said they found no signs of mechanical failure, but National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said a day after the crash that it was still too early to rule out mechanical problems as a possible factor.
NTSB spent several days at the crash site. A final report could take up to two years to complete.
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Jay Tokasz
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