School Bus Driver Who Hit Howell House May Have Fallen Asleep

HOWELL, NJ — A house on Asbury Avenue in Howell is temporarily uninhabitable after an empty school bus driven by a 22-year-old driver crashed into it Tuesday morning, Howell police said.

Lt. Christian Atunez was in charge of the scene where the bus was still being extricated from the house at 11: 30 a.m. Tuesday. The incident happened at about 7:15 a.m.

Police, fire and township Emergency Management personnel were on the scene.

A mother with two young children, ages 4 and 6, were home at the time but were not injured, he said. The residents will temporarily stay with family or friends, Atunez said.

There were no students on the bus, which was being driven for the Freehold Regional High School District.

"The Jay’s driver had just completed a run for the district; there were no students on the bus at the time of the accident," said district spokesperson Rebecca Policastro.

A cause for the accident hasn't been determined yet, he said, but the driver may have fallen asleep, Atunez said.

He said the driver hit a utility pole and then a mailbox before crashing into the house.

The driver was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for lacerations to his face and head, Atunez said.

The bus was a Jay's Bus Service vehicle. The company did not return a call for comment. The last time a Jay's bus was in the news in Howell was when a driver stopped a bus with students to retrieve paperwork. See that story here.

You can see an ABC television helicopter view of the bus here.