Prosecutors announced Monday that the bus driver involved in a fatal crash on a Virginia highway has been indicted on additional involuntary manslaughter charges. The accident resulted in the deaths of five individuals. Jing Sheng Dong, a 48-year-old tour bus driver from Staten Island, New York, now faces three more felony counts connected to these deaths and a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving, according to Stafford Commonwealth District Attorney Eric Olsen.
Previously, Dong was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, as stated by the prosecutor. The early morning crash on Friday, May 30, caused injuries to nearly four dozen other passengers, including Dong himself. He remained hospitalized on Monday and will be taken to the Rappahannock Regional Jail upon his release.
The initial investigation by Virginia State Police revealed that traffic was slowing in the southbound lane on Interstate 95 in Stafford County as vehicles approached a work zone. The bus driver allegedly “failed to slow for traffic,” resulting in a collision with six vehicles around 2:35 a.m. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident alongside state police. The bus, operated by E&P Travel of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, was en route from New York to North Carolina.
The bus first impacted a Chevrolet Suburban, which then collided with an Acura SUV and additional vehicles. Four individuals in the Acura, a family from Greenfield, Massachusetts, and one person in the Suburban died in the crash. The family included 45-year-old Dmitri Doncev, his wife Ecterina, 44, their 13-year-old daughter Emily, and 7-year-old son Mark, who were traveling to a wedding in South Carolina. The victim from the Suburban was identified as 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda from Worcester, Massachusetts.
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