On Friday, September 6 at 7:49 p.m., state police responded to exit 28 off of Interstate 84 westbound for a school bus accident involving a bus owned by Warwick Central School District. Investigation revealed that the operator of the school bus experienced a medical episode and became slumped over the steering wheel as the bus was accelerating up the ramp to merge onto Interstate 84 westbound.The bus then traveled off the shoulder of the roadway and down into a small grassy ravine striking a tree causing damage to the front ride side of the bus.Â
When troopers responded to the scene they observed female students outside of the bus and an adult male and a female student performing CPR on the operator of the bus. Montgomery First Aid arrived on scene and continued CPR and and transported the operator to Orange Medical Center. There were 22 students on the bus ranging from ages 15 to 17 and the tennis coach. None of the students were injured.
On September 8, Denise Schmidt, 53, of Warwick, the operator of the bus, was pronounced deceased.