The driver of a tour bus that slammed into traffic on Interstate 95 in Virginia and set off a deadly chain reaction was charged Saturday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Virginia State Police said Jing S Dong was arrested after the Friday morning crash, and officials said more charges were still possible as investigators kept working the case.
The crash killed five people and sent roughly 44 others to area hospitals, including three with critical injuries. Investigators said the bus failed to slow for traffic and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, which then plowed into other cars and ignited one vehicle on fire. Prosecutor Eric Olsen said there was enough evidence to suggest Dong was driving in a criminally negligent manner, and state police said the bus had been traveling at a high rate of speed through a work zone when it struck multiple vehicles.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count. The bus was operated by E&P Travel and was headed from New York to North Carolina when the collision began Friday morning, turning a stretch of interstate into a wreck scene involving at least eight vehicles. One of the victims was 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda, who was in the Suburban that was hit first.
Her death added a name to a toll that already included members of the Doncev family from Greenfield, Massachusetts, and underscored how quickly the crash spread beyond the first impact. Dong was served with felony warrants in the hospital on Saturday, but the investigation remains open and officials have said additional charges are pending.
What matters next is whether prosecutors extend the case beyond the manslaughter counts already filed. For the families already counting losses, the arrest answers only part of the question: who is being held to account for a crash that began with one missed stop and ended with five dead on a Virginia interstate.
