Kingston residents were shocked to learn of another automobile-related fatality in the city late last week. Eleven minutes before sunset on Friday, January 6, 59-year-old Sarah Edwards was struck by a school bus near the Wurts and Spring streets intersection in the Rondout. The weather was grey and rainy.
Kingston police said it appears that Edwards was crossing Wurts Street inside what is known as “the box,” that square inside all four corners of the intersection.
The intersection is a four way stop, with stop signs at every corner.
Witnesses at the scene of the accident reported that first responders from the fire department attempted to resuscitate the severely injured woman before an ambulance could arrive. She remained unresponsive. Taken to Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital, Edwards was declared deceased,
Every death strikes most grievously at the happiness in the heart of a community — especially preventable deaths. The driver of the bus, whose identity has not yet been released, worked for Ethan Allen Transportation. The private company headquarters its buses just four blocks from the accident down in a small valley formed between Ravine and Hone streets.
The company released a statement acknowledging its involvement.
“Our prayers are with the family of the deceased and all those impacted by Friday’s tragic accident,” it said. “We continue to work closely with the authorities to determine the cause of the fatality. As is company policy, the school-bus driver is out of service pending the investigation.”
The bus driver was 77 years old. There were no children riding the bus at the time of the accident.
On November 5, 2000, a 55-year-old male was hit and killed at the intersection of Wilbur Avenue at Greenkill Avenue by a school bus operating for the Birnie Bus Company shortly after new bike lanes had been painted and new traffic signs had been erected.
The Kingston Police Department has not released information as to fault in the latest accident.
A spate of automobile-related bicycle deaths have been in the headlines recently.
On December 27, less than two weeks ago, Christine Tarasco, 65, was struck and killed riding her bicycle on Pine Grove Avenue outside the YMCA. The police attributed the accident in part to “the glare of the sun.” It was the fourth fatal bicycling accident in Kingston in two years.
A police investigation if the Edwards accident is currently under way in cooperation with the state police in order to make a determination whether criminal charges are called for. Unless the bus driver can be proven to have been operating the bus under the influence of intoxicating substances or driving in a negligent or reckless manner disregarding the safety of others, no criminal charges will typically be filed.
“We concern ourselves with criminal liability,” explained Kingston police lieutenant Patrick Buono, “which is different from the liability a civil suit would be concerned with. We conduct the same investigation, we get the same amount of facts, we exhaust every avenue that we can. But at the end of the day, our question is, is there criminal liability here? Did this person commit a crime?”
Because the bus is owned by a private company in contract to the school and because there were no students on the bus at the time of the incident, the investigation does not fall under the purview of the school district.
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