The driver of a bus involved in a deadly crash in Stafford County has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, Virginia State Police said.
Five people were killed when a bus crashed into multiple vehicles on I-95 at around 2:35 a.m. Friday about two miles south of the exit for Quantico. Forty-four people were also sent to area hospitals, three of whom had injuries authorities described as critical.
The driver of the bus, 48-year-old Jing S. Dong, is from Staten Island, N.Y. and was one of those injured in the crash.
Drivers were slowed down because of a work zone when the bus driver “failed to slow for traffic” and slammed into several vehicles, police said the initial investigation showed Friday.
The investigation into the crash is still underway, and police said they are examining Dong’s actions before the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also said it is still in the preliminary phases of its investigation into the root cause of the fatal crash and what led up to it.
The NTSB also said the bus was driving at a high rate of speed.
The NTSB said it’s bringing in additional investigators that will be specializing in the specific details in this case. The team will be looking into several factors, including the conditions at the time of the crash, highway design and the bus driver’s health and driving history. NTSB investigators are expected to remain at the scene for at least five to seven days to gather information and evidence.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on social media police confirmed the bus driver is a U.S. citizen originally from China who does not speak English.
“Unacceptable. This is exactly why we are holding states’ accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can’t speak English,” he wrote.
But the Department of Transportation (DOT) website includes language about road sign symbols and how they are used to overcome language barriers.
The NTSB addressed the transportation secretary’s assertion and talked about what’s next in their investigation.
“We are still assessing the driver’s language proficiency, and we don’t have enough information at this point to have drawn any conclusions there. That’s something we’re looking at, but we’ve not drawn a conclusion independently,” said Tom Chapman with the NTSB. “[…] Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again. We will not be determining the probable cause of the crash while we were on scene, nor will we speculate about the cause.”
The DOT is also investigating the driver’s history and records from New York state, where he received a commercial license in 2024, Duffy said.
Other charges in addition to involuntary manslaughter are pending, police said.
Among the victims of the crash was a family of four. Dimitri and Ecaterina Doncev, along with their two children, Emily and Mark — were from Greenfield, Massachusetts. They were on their way to a family wedding in South Carolina when their car was struck, a family member told News4.
Priscilla R. Mafalda was also killed, police said. She was 25 years old and from Worcester, Massachusetts.