Authorities have brought criminal charges against the naturalized U.S. citizen accused of causing a deadly crash early Friday that killed five people, including two children, on Interstate 95 in Stafford County, Virginia.
Virginia State Police said Jing S. Dong, 48, faces two charges of involuntary manslaughter in the chain reaction collision, which happened after a coach bus plowed into slower traffic in a work zone around 2:35 a.m. Friday.
A total of 44 people were injured in the crash, three of whom were in critical condition following the incident on the southbound side of the federal interstate highway.
“I have determined that probable cause presently exists to establish that the driver of the tour bus caused this crash and, at the time of the crash, he was driving in a criminally negligent manner,” Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen said.
If convicted of both counts, Mr. Dong could spend up to 20 years behind bars. Police said more charges against the suspect are pending.
The crash is the latest example of a commercial driver with limited English proficiency being blamed for a fatal crash, and a political fight quickly began over state regulators in liberal states’ purported DEI-driven looseness with such rules.
Mr. Dong remains hospitalized and will be kept behind bars once the hospital releases him, officials said.
State police said the driver first slammed into a Chevrolet Suburban SUV, which then crashed into an Acura and then four other vehicles.
Authorities said the SUV driver, 25-year-old Priscilla R. Mafalda, of Worcester, Massachusetts, died at the scene.
The family of four inside the Acura, identified as Dmitri Doncev, 45, Ecaterina Doncev, 44, and their two children, Emily and Mark, were also killed in the initial collision.
Relatives mourned the family from Greenfield, Massachusetts, who were on their way to a wedding in South Carolina.
“A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik told WBTS-TV in Boston.
She said the wedding would go forward as planned on Sunday, though it would now be a mourning-filled one.
National Transportation Safety Board member Thomas Chapman said investigators are still trying to determine how the crash occurred, but early leads suggest speed was a factor in the tragedy.
“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking, there wasn’t much, because of the speed and the severity of the collision,” Mr. Chapman said.
Mr. Chapman said investigators are also trying to determine how well Mr. Dong speaks English, which was a bone of contention for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
He said the suspect doesn’t speak English, yet was given a commercial driver’s license in New York state two years ago.
“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. If you can’t be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus,” Mr. Duffy posted on X.
The NTSB said it will release a preliminary report on the crash within 30 days.
