A non-English speaker was allegedly behind the wheel of a bus when it crashed in Virginia on Friday, killing five people and injuring 44 others.
The bus driver was identified as Jing S. Dong, a Chinese native who had become a U.S. citizen and who was allegedly driving the bus from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, when the incident happened, the New York Post reported Saturday.
The bus rammed into stopped traffic on I-95 when movement on the highway slowed for a work zone. Among the dead were a 13-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Friday.
“Local police confirm the driver of this motorcoach — a man from China who became a U.S. citizen — doesn’t speak English. He received his commercial drivers license from New York State in 2024. Unacceptable. This is exactly why we are holding states accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can’t speak English,” he wrote in a social media post.
“If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus. Our investigators are reviewing New York licensing records, training documentation, and the driver’s history. Any company, trainer, or school that contributed to putting an unqualified driver on the road will face intense scrutiny,” Duffy said, adding officials were investigating the incident.
“We’ll share more updates soon. My prayers are with the loved ones of the innocent lives lost and those who were hurt in this horrific crime,” he continued:
The injured, including Dong, were hospitalized and criminal charges against the bus driver were pending.
“It just comes flying up beside us, barely missed us. He’s in the ditch,” a witness said from behind his cellphone as he recorded the scene where passengers were being evacuated from the bus:
In December, a Tennessee trucker was killed when a Chinese national who was not proficient in English and had a non-domiciled New York commercial driver’s license (CDL) allegedly crashed a tour bus, Breitbart News reported.
Around that time, Duffy warned, “New York could lose $73 million in federal highway funds after a damning audit found more than half of the state’s immigrant commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally,” per Breitbart News.