By Adam Nichols
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — The driver of a Chinatown-bound bus that flipped on a Virginia highway, killing four passengers and hurting dozens others, was charged with reckless driving on Tuesday, authorities said.
Driver Kin Yiu Cheung, 37, was held on $3,000 bond after flipping the vehicle near Richmond, Va., State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
The Virginia State Police determined the cause of the crash was driver fatigue, and ruled out all possibility of mechanical malfunction, according to a statement. Fifty-four people were hurt, ranging from minor to life threatening injuries, VA state police said in a statement.
All of those killed were women, and their bodies have been taken to the Richmond Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for identification, the state police said. The injured passengers were taken to 11 hospitals in Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Hopewell, police said.
Geller said the bus was traveling from Greensboro, N.C., to New York City when it hit an embankment and was thrown on to its roof on the I-95 early Tuesday.
The accident left luggage and wreckage strewn across the road at Bowling Green, Virginia.
The bus, which was carrying 57 passengers, was operated by Sky Express, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., police said. Workers at the company's Chinatown office, on Chrystie Street, declined to comment Tuesday.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records showed the company had a "troubled inspection history," according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The newspaper said it had performed worse than 99.7 percent of other passenger bus companies in the FMCSA's driver fitness category. That category monitors how qualified drivers are to operate commercial motor vehicles.
The bus had left Greensboro at 10:30 p.m. Monday. The accident happened just before 5 a.m.
One of the passengers had to be arrested at the scene Tuesday after he stood in the middle of the active roadway and tried to take photos of the crash despite repeated requests to stop, police said.
Pavion O'Connor, 29, of Raleigh, NC, was charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest, and was ordered held on $2,500 bond.
The accident happened 2 1/2 months after a bus heading to Chinatown from a Connecticut casino crashed in the Bronx, killing 15 people.
A national safety crackdown followed that accident, prompting the Assembly to pass a bill that would monitor Chinatown buses. The Senate has yet to pass that bill, prompting a collection of elected officials Tuesday to call on their colleagues to pass the bill.
