BUS DRIVER INDICTED IN 4 TRAFFIC DEATHS
Bus driver indicted
Date published: 7/7/2011
BY SCOTT SHENK
Sky Express bus driver Kin Yiu Cheung pleaded not guilty yesterday to four counts of involuntary manslaughter as his wife watched.
Through a translator, Qun Lin said she and her husband feel awful for those killed and injured in the crash.
"It's sad, but it's an accident," Lin said through interpreter Steven Xing. "His life was on the line also."
Lin drove the couple's two young children from New York to see Cheung, but they weren't allowed in the courtroom. She plans to take their 5-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter to visit Cheung at the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover today.
Lin saw her husband appear before the judge after a Caroline County grand jury indicted Cheung on the involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the May 31 Sky Express bus crash on Interstate 95. Four women died in the crash and 53 were injured.
During the brief hearing, Cheung entered his not guilty plea and waived his right to a jury trial.
The trial is set for Sept. 12.
The crash, one of a string of discount bus accidents this year, set off a firestorm of media coverage and federal regulatory reaction to an industry seemingly rife with companies that skirt the rules. Sky Express already had a poor safety record and was shut down after the Caroline County crash. Days after that, the company was cited by federal authorities for trying to "reincarnate" under a different name.
After the hearing, Lin said she never heard from anyone with Sky Express after the accident.
"It's too late to blame anybody," she said through Xing, who added that it was a dispatcher with the company who pressured drivers to take on whichever routes he assigned them.
"The dispatcher was forcing him to drive," Xing translated.
After the crash, Cheung told investigators he fell asleep just before the bus ran off the interstate.
The Associated Press is reporting that a document it obtained shows that Cheung's attorneys have asked a judge to suppress statements he made. They are claiming that he was denied access to counsel and wasn't properly advised of his rights.
Cheung's attorney, Murray Janus, would not comment on the motion after the hearing and Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer was unavailable, according to the AP.
Janus said after the hearing that he may again seek bond for Cheung.
Bond has twice been denied for Cheung because he was considered a flight risk after authorities struggled to determine where he lives.
Lin said the family has moved around so much because they couldn't afford to buy a home. Instead they moved yearly from rental to rental.
She said that since her husband has been in jail, she and the children have survived on savings, just enough for rent and the bare necessities.
At this point, she just wants "to get my husband back as soon as possible."
Scott Shenk: 540/374-5436
Email: sshenk@freelancestar.com
Sky Express bus driver Kin Yiu Cheung pleaded not guilty yesterday to four counts of involuntary manslaughter as his wife watched.
Through a translator, Qun Lin said she and her husband feel awful for those killed and injured in the crash.
"It's sad, but it's an accident," Lin said through interpreter Steven Xing. "His life was on the line also."
Lin drove the couple's two young children from New York to see Cheung, but they weren't allowed in the courtroom. She plans to take their 5-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter to visit Cheung at the Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover today.
Lin saw her husband appear before the judge after a Caroline County grand jury indicted Cheung on the involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the May 31 Sky Express bus crash on Interstate 95. Four women died in the crash and 53 were injured.
During the brief hearing, Cheung entered his not guilty plea and waived his right to a jury trial.
The trial is set for Sept. 12.
The crash, one of a string of discount bus accidents this year, set off a firestorm of media coverage and federal regulatory reaction to an industry seemingly rife with companies that skirt the rules. Sky Express already had a poor safety record and was shut down after the Caroline County crash. Days after that, the company was cited by federal authorities for trying to "reincarnate" under a different name.
After the hearing, Lin said she never heard from anyone with Sky Express after the accident.
"It's too late to blame anybody," she said through Xing, who added that it was a dispatcher with the company who pressured drivers to take on whichever routes he assigned them.
"The dispatcher was forcing him to drive," Xing translated.
After the crash, Cheung told investigators he fell asleep just before the bus ran off the interstate.
The Associated Press is reporting that a document it obtained shows that Cheung's attorneys have asked a judge to suppress statements he made. They are claiming that he was denied access to counsel and wasn't properly advised of his rights.
Cheung's attorney, Murray Janus, would not comment on the motion after the hearing and Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer was unavailable, according to the AP.
Janus said after the hearing that he may again seek bond for Cheung.
Bond has twice been denied for Cheung because he was considered a flight risk after authorities struggled to determine where he lives.
Lin said the family has moved around so much because they couldn't afford to buy a home. Instead they moved yearly from rental to rental.
She said that since her husband has been in jail, she and the children have survived on savings, just enough for rent and the bare necessities.
At this point, she just wants "to get my husband back as soon as possible."
Scott Shenk: 540/374-5436
Email: sshenk@freelancestar.com
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2011/072011/07072011/637723
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