The firefighters and state police troopers were on scene to investigate when the bus, also out of control, slammed into the fire truck and a Toyota Camry, Matey said.
Advertisement
Matey said the bus was taking flood recovery workers from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and belonged to a company with two names: AM Party Bus and Kristina’s Transportation LLC, both at the same address in Jefferson, about 30 miles from New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, Matey said. A call by the Associated Press to Kristina’s Transportation in Destrehan, 12 miles from Jefferson in St. Charles Parish, was not answered Sunday. Authorities want to clarify the driver’s connection to the bus – is he the person who rented the 2002 Eldorado bus, an employee of whoever did so, or an employee of the bus owners?
“The driver of the charter bus, did not have a driver’s license, was not authorized to drive a commercial motor vehicle”, said Trooper Matey.
All five occupants of that vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor to moderate injuries. Some journalists, who attempted to call the business to ask why an illegal immigrant was driving the business, were met with only a notice the phone line had been disconnected.
Police said the driver will be charged with two counts of negligent homicide.
“All three firemen were thrown over the guard rail and into the water below”, Matey said.
Additional criminal charges are forthcoming. The front seat passenger was 50-year-old Solma Almendarez also of Kenner. The bus, filled with volunteers to help residents recover from massive flooding in Louisiana earlier this month, was traveling westbound on Interstate 10 when it crashed into the fire truck and another vehicle, the television station and other media reported. The St. John the Baptist Parish Office of Fire Services had been on the scene dealing with a motor vehicle accident involving a truck crash when Denis Rodriguez plowed into the cordoned off area of the highway, the NY Daily News reports.
Police said the bus driver hit one vehicle and then plowed into firefighters who were at the scene of another crash.
The second crash claimed the lives of St. John the Baptist Parish Fire Chief Spencer Chauvin, 36, Gramercy, LA and 21-year-old Jermaine Starr of Moss Point, MS.
By Sunday evening Beal had been released, while Saale remained hospitalized with critical injuries, according to State Police.
Firefighter Nicholas Saale, 32, of Ponchatoula, and Camry passenger Vontravous Kelly of Moss Point, Mississippi, were in critical condition after the accident, she said.
Advertisement
The Camry driven by 35-year-old Marcus Tate of Moss Point, Miss, who suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.
