Elderly woman fatally struck by bus in Queens; Bus found in Conn. linked

FLUSHING, N.Y. (WABC) -- An 84-year-old woman was struck and killed by a private bus in Flushing Thursday night as she crossed the street, and authorities have identified a bus found in Connecticut is the one that was involved in the incident.

Officials say the victim was not in a crosswalk as she crossed at Main Street and Kissena Boulevard at 8:30 p.m., and according to the preliminary investigation, a white charter bus that was stopped at a red light while northbound on Main Street moved forward and struck the woman with its front right bumper.

She was knocked down and run over by the tires, with the bus proceeding north on Main, the driver evidently unaware he or she had hit someone. The victim suffered severe body trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Connecticut State Police spotted a bus fitting the description and stopped it at the Interstate 95 northbound service area in Madison, Conn., around 10 p.m. Thursday, and police notified the NYPD, which examined the bus -- operated by Skyliner of East Elmhurst -- for hours before it was brought back to Queens.

The bus was headed to Foxwoods Casino and would have driven through Flushing to pick up passengers at the time of the crash. Investigators were specifically looking at the bus' undercarriage.

The investigation was initially hampered by the bus having driven more than 80 miles in the rain, washing away some evidence from the crash. State Department of Transportation officials are also involved in the inspection.

The 56-year-old driver was questioned, but not arrested, and the investigation is ongoing.

A manager at Skyliner said the company is cooperating fully with the NYPD.

Eyewitness Radha Ageeff said she tried to protect the woman after she was hit.

"I ran to the corner, and I grabbed boxes," she said. "I grabbed large cardboard boxes to block the body, so that the cars would not keep trying to go over that body."

Most alarming is that this is the third bus fatality just this week, and community activist Sherrell Jordon said she sees the dangers every day on Main Street in Flushing.

"She was an elderly woman, it probably took her time to cross," she said. "So something has to be done out here. I don't want anyone else to die over here...They zoom down the block. As you can see, we are very congested today. And soon the kids will be getting out from school. So I think this is something that has to be put on our councilman's desk. Something has to be done."

Earlier this week, a 69-year-old woman was struck by a Q23 bus on Kessel Street and 71st Avenue in Forest Hills Queens around 7:40 a.m. Sunday, and a 70-year-old woman was struck by a B15 bus on Fulton Street in Brooklyn at around 6:15 a.m. Tuesday.

"Every death will be investigated, and those responsible will be identified and prosecuted accordingly," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "But there are so many things we can do proactively to protect lives."