Bus driver in Virginia crash that killed 5 faces additional involuntary manslaughter charges
The bus driver involved in a Virginia highway crash that killed five people last week has been indicted on additional involuntary manslaughter charges, prosecutors announced Monday.
Jing Sheng Dong, a 48-year-old tour bus driver from Staten Island, New York, now faces three more felony counts in connection with the deaths, as well as a misdemeanor charge for reckless driving, Stafford Commonwealth District Attorney Eric Olsen said. Dong was previously charged Saturday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Each count of involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison if there's a conviction, according to the prosecutor.
Nearly four dozen people were injured in the early morning crash on Friday, May 30, including Dong. He remained hospitalized on Monday and will be transported to the Rappahannock Regional Jail once he's released, according to Olsen.
A federal official told CBS News that Dong refused to take an English proficiency test Monday night.
Virginia State Police said an initial investigation showed traffic was slowing in the southbound lane on Interstate 95 in Stafford County as cars approached a work zone. The bus driver allegedly "failed to slow for traffic" and crashed into six vehicles at about 2:35 a.m., police said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is also investigating along with state police, said the bus was operated by E&P Travel of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and was transporting passengers from New York to North Carolina.
The bus first struck a Chevrolet Suburban, which then hit an Acura SUV and additional vehicles, police said. Four people in the Acura were killed, along with one person in the Suburban.
The four victims in the Acura were a family from Greenfield, Massachusetts. CBS Boston reported that 45-year-old Dmitri Doncev, his wife, Ecterina, 44, their 13-year-old daughter, Emily, and their 7-year-old son, Mark, were on their way to a wedding in South Carolina.
The victim from the Suburban was identified as 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda from Worcester, Massachusetts, state police said.
E&P Travel lists four coaches registered to an apartment complex.
"This is not a huge bus company, but they are pumping out a lot of miles," motor coach industry expert Rob Carpenter told CBS News.
Police records show a similar incident happened in 2024, when a bus operated by the same company failed to slow and struck a vehicle that injured nine near Greensboro, North Carolina.
In the past two years, the company has been cited three times for speeding 15 mph or more over the speed limit.
Two months ago, the company received a satisfactory rating from federal regulators, but Carpenter told CBS News that having such a rating doesn't always mean that a company is safe.
"We've seen some really egregious companies who have had catastrophic crashes and still maintain a satisfactory rating," Carpenter said.
E&P Travel didn't respond to a phone call or email from CBS News, and no one was home when CBS News knocked on the company's door.
The federal agency that regulates bus safety said in a statement to CBS News that, by law, safety ratings "only include the prior 365 days," and E&P Travel's 2024 crash fell outside that window.
