Summonses
are issued to
bus driver
in fatal crash
Municipal action will be
delayed until prosecutor
completes investigation
MANALAPAN — Police have charged the driver of a school bus that collided with a pickup truck and killed a township man with several motor vehicle violations.
Manalapan Police Lt. Louis Moreto said Gary Mason, 44, of South River, who was driving a bus owned by Irvin Raphael Inc., East Brunswick, has been charged with five motor vehicle violations as a result of the May 26 collision that killed Thomas Sozzi, 36, a township resident and father of three.
The accident occurred at about 3 p.m. near the intersection of Union Hill and Pease roads.
Moreto told the News Transcript the municipal charges filed against Mason are failure to pass on the right at an intersection; failure to keep right; careless driving, failure to wear a seatbelt; and crossing a double line.
Moreto said police filed their charges to satisfy state statutory requirements that require charges to be filed within 30 days of an accident.
According to police, Mason was traveling west on Union Hill Road when his bus collided with a pickup truck driven by Sozzi, who was near his home on Union Hill Road when the accident occurred.
Sozzi died three days later from injuries he sustained in the accident.
Moreto said the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is conducting its own investigation of the accident and until the county has closed its investigation of the matter all charges filed against Mason by the Manalapan police will he held for action pending the county’s findings.
When asked to comment on a report that the bus driver had swerved to avoid hitting a police car parked on his (westbound) side of the road, Capt. Michael Rumola said a police car was parked on the eastbound side of Union Hill Road. That police car was on the scene in response to another matter, he said.
"At this time in the investigation we have determined that the parked police car did not play any part in the bus accident," Rumola said.
At the time of the accident, Mason had a full-size school bus with 28 St. John Vianney High School students headed for their homes in Jamesburg, Spotswood and Monroe Township, all in neighboring Middlesex County.
Following the collision, Mason, Sozzi and 19 of the students on board the bus were transported to area hospitals for treatment. None of the students’ injuries were described as serious.