By: Jason Scheer
At about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26, a school bus carrying the local students, as well as two adult chaperones, was traveling eastbound on the Belt Parkway. The bus driver took the exit for Francis Lewis Boulevard.
However, according to police, the driver lost control while negotiating the turn, causing the vehicle to flip over onto the drivers side. The exterior of the bus was crushed and those students who weren't buckled in were thrust about the vehicles interior.
Msgr. John Bennett, pastor of St. Christopher's, said that none of the students were hurt seriously injured. However, two students spent the night in a local hospital.
The driver of the bus sustained a broken arm.
Bennett, a former fire chaplain, said he received a call shortly after the accident occurred and immediately was on his way to the scene.
"I've seen an awful lot of accidents, too many of them," he said. "...When you see your own people involved it's a very, very scary situation.
"I did a lot of praying between Baldwin and Rosedale."
Upon arriving at the scene, Bennett said that the students, many on gurneys, were being tended to by a sea of emergency response officials.
He credits them with making a scary situation a little more tolerable for the young passengers.
"I can't say enough about the police officers, the firefighters and the E.M.S. workers," he said. "They were absolutely wonderful in their compassion for the youngsters."
The sixth graders were on the way home from an annual visit to Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, N.J. Bennett explained that the trip has been a part of the curriculum for a number of years and students looked forward to the end-of-the-year excursion.
Bennett said that a handful of the students involved in the accident returned to school on Wednesday.
He said there is an overwhelming feeling of compassion emanating from members of the parish, parents and fellow students within the school.
"It's been a wonderful, wonderful thing to watch [the students] care for each other today," he said.
Bennett was thankful that nobody was seriously injured in what was a potentially devastating accident. He stopped short of calling it a miracle, but did say there might have been some divine intervention.
"St. Christopher is the patron Saint of travelers," he explained. "...I think St. Christopher was keeping a watching eye on our youngsters."
The accident is under investigation by the NYPD.
sub: From the inside
Erin Mandato, 12, Shannon Gioello, 11 and Caroline Kornobis, 11, were among the 44 students on the bus. They spoke with the Herald about their terrifying experiences the day after the accident.
Gioello, who was sitting on the drivers side of the bus, remembers the vehicle tipping over. She said she felt other children fall on top of her, but refused to open her eyes out of fear and disbelief.
"I didn't really see anything because I held my eyes closed because I was scared and I thought it was like a dream and I would be waking up any second," she said.
Gioello explained that most of the children in the aisle seats were instructed to put their seat belts on by the bus driver. However, a teacher on the trip told everyone to buckle up. Not everyone listened.
Kornobis, who said she sustained a pulled muscle in her neck, said the entire ordeal seemed to take place in an instant. A day later, she was still in shock.
"I was very happy that I got out," she said. "I just can't believe that it happened."
All three were taken to local hospitals. However, they said that the police officers, firefighters and others who responded to the scene helped calm them down.
The scariest thing was worrying about their friends.
"It's hard to see your friends roll away in stretchers," Mandato said.
Nora Gioello is Shannon Gioello's mother. She said she began worrying about her daughter because the bus, scheduled to arrive back in Baldwin at 3 o'clock, was already late.
Then she got a call from a fellow parent who told her what happened.
"It was shocking," she said.
Soon after, she was walking through the doors at Franklin Hospital Medical Center to visit her daughter.
"I was worried. I didn't know what I would find," she said.
However, she learned that nobody was seriously hurt in the accident, a revelation that she is ever grateful for.
"I feel like we cheated death," she said. "It could have been so awful but it wasn't. We were so lucky, very lucky. All of us. It could have really been tragic."
