Driver in fatal bus crash put on unpaid leave

The driver in the bus crash that killed four people Saturday has been placed on "indefinite" unpaid leave.

John Tomaszewski, 59, who police said is from the Yardville section of Hamilton Township, Mercer County, was driving a Megabus headed from Philadelphia to Toronto when he missed his exit near Syracuse, N.Y. He attempted to double back by taking the Onandaga State Parkway, where he crashed into a low-hanging bridge.

Deanna Armstrong, 18, of Voorhees; Kevin Coffey, 19, a Temple University business major from Manhattan, Kan.; a Malaysian preacher; and a computer technician from India died in the early-morning crash. Twenty other passengers were injured.

Tomaszewski and his family appeared to have moved this month from Bordentown Township in Burlington County, his former neighbors on Groveville Road told the Philadelphia Daily News this week.

The driver, who suffered head injuries in the accident, was treated at a hospital in Upstate New York and released. He has not been charged, said Sgt. Jamie Blumer of the Onandaga County, N.Y., sheriff's department.

Tomaszewski was told Tuesday that he would be "withheld from service" as a driver, said Dale Moser, president of Coach USA, parent company of Megabus L.L.C. Because of his injuries, Tomaszewski is eligible to collect worker's compensation.

At the time of the crash, Tomaszewski was using his own GPS device to navigate to the Syracuse bus depot. Company policy prohibits drivers from using personal GPS devices.

Guided by the device, Tomaszewski drove the 13-foot, 1-inch bus under a railroad bridge with a 10-foot, 9-inch clearance. He apparently failed to notice several signs warning of the low clearance.

Tomaszewski received his commercial driver's license in December and started work for Megabus when it inaugurated its Philadelphia-Toronto route in mid-July. He had driven the route nine times before the crash, Moser said.