NJ man killed in horrific crash that ripped bus ‘like a can opener’

🚌 The bus struck three trucks parked on a rest area

🚌 One witness said the bus "opened like a can opener"

🚌 The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash

A New Jersey man was killed Wednesday when a Greyhound bus hit three parked trucks at the entrance to an interstate rest area.

Illinois State Police said the bus was traveling west on Route 70 around 1:55 a.m. when it struck the trucks on the ramp to the Silver Lake rest area outside St. Louis.

Over a dozen passengers and the driver were injured in the crash.

Three people were killed: Juan Vasquez-Rodriguez, 34, of Passaic; Buford Paya, 71, of Supai, Arizona; and Bradley Donovan, 47, of Springfield, Illinois.

Passenger Edwin Brown, 22, of Friars Point, Mississippi, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he felt the bus shake as it passed over rumble strips before the side of the vehicle “opened up like a can opener.”

The driver was in and out of consciousness after the crash as Brown turned the ignition off with the help of a trucker, he said.

Why were trucks parked on the ramp?

The Amalgamated Transit Union wrote on its Facebook page that the driver is hospitalized in serious condition.

The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash including why the trucks were parked on the ramp and why the bus was exiting the highway.

Parking spots are at a premium in public rest areas, and truckers often park along exit ramps at night. The practice is illegal in Illinois and many other states but police often ignore it, understanding the shortage of places for overnight truck parking.

“Certainly we'll be looking at the location, the proximity of the parked trucks, such details as the width, the length of the ramp,” NTSB member Tom Chapman said.

A GoFundMe page was created by a family friend to help return his body to his native Peru. According to the page, he came to the United States with his children, sisters and parents in search of a better future.

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