By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A school bus driver was killed Wednesday after the school bus he was driving left the road and struck a tree on Zaitz Farm Road shortly after 3 p.m., according to the West Windsor Township Police Department., The 73-year-old victim, who lived in Monroe Township, became the second driver to die on West Windsor Township roads in less than 24 hours. The school bus driver’s name is being withheld pending further investigation, police said., In the first accident, which was reported at 12:39 a.m., 63-year-old Gerard W. Haburay of New York, N.Y., was killed when the 1992 Dodge van he was driving struck debris in the northbound lanes of Route 1, about a half-mile north of Quakerbridge Road. He lost control of the van and it left the roadway, striking several trees., The second accident on Wednesday, which involved the school bus, may have been triggered by a medical issue suffered by the driver, police said. The school bus hit a tree branch and then struck a tree before coming to rest partially off the road in the 3:11 p.m. accident., The school bus was carrying seven students from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South when the accident occurred. Several students tried to help the driver until West Windsor Emergency Medical Services emergency medical technicians and Capital Health Systems paramedics arrived., The school bus driver was taken to the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police said. A student on the bus reported pain to her hand and wrist area, but declined treatment at the scene., The accident is under investigation by Patrolman Frank LaTorre of the West Windsor Township Police Department, and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Serious Collision Unit. Patrolman LaTorre can be contacted at 609-799-1222 or at [email protected].
