1st Legal Action Filed In 'Nightmare' NJ Turnpike Crash That Killed 2

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — The first legal action has been filed in last Tuesday's fatal Megabus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, where the double-decker bus lost control, collided with a pick-up truck and overturned on its side, killing two passengers, both women.

The legal complaint was filed by Yamara Kiyanitza, who is the daughter of one of the women killed in the crash. Both her parents were on board the bus that night.

Her mother, Cecilia Kiyanitza, 66, of Gloucester County, was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she died. Her father, Sandomar Kiyanitza, "suffered catastrophic injuries in the crash and is currently in an incapacitated state and otherwise unable to act," wrote their daughter in her legal complaint.

Kiyanitza filed her complaint Friday against Coach USA and MegaBus, as well as their insurance provider, Momentum Risk Retention Group. Coach USA owns and operates Meagbus.

A spokesman for Megabus said they are aware of the legal action against them, but declined to comment on it.

Kiyanitza is requesting Megabus preserve all evidence from the Aug. 9 crash, including all dashcam video and video recordings from inside the bus, plus the bus’s inspection and maintenance records.

According to her complaint, "Coach USA deployed Samsara AI dash cams across its fleet of 1,500 vehicles, and the dash cams have functionality to instantly review collisions, near-misses, distracted driving and more, with HD footage uploaded to the cloud and tagged with behaviors within minutes of an event. Trip stills can be uploaded every few minutes."

She also wants to know the identity of the driver and have access to his cell phone records. Also, Kiyanitza said "law enforcement has not provided me with any information regarding the cause of the crash. My only knowledge about the crash is from news sources."

She filed her complaint in Middlesex County Superior Court, as the crash overturned in the Woodbridge Township section of the Turnpike. The bus is currently at Puleio's Service Center in North Brunswick.

Her lawyer, Edward Rebenack, of Somerville law firm Rebenack, Aronow & Mascolo, wrote in his filing that they are collecting all this evidence because they later plan to sue Coach USA and MegaBus.

The second woman killed in the crash was Cheryl Johnson, 59, of the Bronx, who was pronounced dead on the scene. Three people sustained serious injuries, including the bus driver, a 56-year-old man from Westville, NJ. Additionally, 14 passengers sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Even veteran Woodbridge firefighters, who often respond to car accidents on the Turnpike, commented that the Aug. 9 accident had a "large volume" of injured people.

"There were significant trauma injuries inside the bus," remarked Evan Douglas, captain at the Port Reading Fire Department, and who responded to the crash site.

A 30-year-old Georgia man driving by on the Turnpike who saw the crash and ran to it, described a "apocalypse" scene of "smoke all around, people walking around bleeding, with their arms broken, blood everywhere. People had been cut to the bone; there were ligaments and bones showing. People were covered in blood ... screaming for help that they were trapped in the bus. All the passengers told us they had been asleep. They were just asleep headed to Philly and then boom, your whole life changes in an instant," said eyewitness Gary Lee Fortner.

New Jersey State Police say the double-decker bus was occupied by the driver and 22 passengers; it was headed from New York City to Philadelphia. Fortner, who was one of the first people on the scene, said it appeared the passengers seated on the top level of the bus suffered the most severe injuries.

At approximately 6:53 p.m., State Police say the bus was traveling southbound in the left lane of the Turnpike outer roadway in Woodbridge, and a Ford F-150 was traveling in the left-center lane next to the bus.

The bus driver lost control of the bus in the area of milepost 93.2 and struck the Ford, said police.

After hitting the side of the Ford, the bus went off the road, struck the guardrail, and overturned onto the Thomas Edison service area entrance ramp. The metal guardrail went through the massive front windshield of the bus, piercing the glass and going up to five feet inside the bus, said Fortner.

The driver of the pick-up remained at the scene and was not injured.

All the Patch reporting on this crash: Death Toll Rises To 2 In NJ Turnpike Megabus Crash

Eyewitness To Fatal NJ Turnpike Megabus Crash Recounts 'Nightmare