Arlington school bus ran stop sign before crash with state trooper: police

Matt Spillane, Poughkeepsie Journal
·2 min read

The Arlington school bus driver who crashed into a state police car failed to stop at a stop sign, state police said Friday.

A bus monitor was killed in the crash Tuesday; police identified her as Robin Alvarez, a 59-year-old East Fishkill resident.

The investigation is ongoing. Police said the investigation is being led by the state Attorney General's Office, which said earlier this week that it was still reviewing the matter.

Tthe scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.
Tthe scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.

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The bus was traveling north on South Cross Road in LaGrange at 3:12 p.m. Tuesday when the driver failed to stop at a stop sign while turning on to Route 55, police said.

A state trooper was driving east on Route 55, not in an emergency capacity, when his car collided with the bus, which then struck a utility pole, police said.

New York State Police investigate the scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.
New York State Police investigate the scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.

Police said Alvarez was not wearing a seat belt and she died at the scene.

The bus was taking students home from an off-campus BOCES program, Arlington Superintendent of Schools David Moyer said.

Two adult students on the minibus were treated at MidHudson Regional Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said, and the bus driver and state trooper were also taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Moyer said that, other than what the police had released, he did not have any additional information on the cause of the crash or the indication that the bus driver did not stop at a stop sign.

According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles, "Every school bus driver is required to wear a seat belt, and children under the age of 4 must ride in properly installed, federally-certified child safety seats. Each school district sets its own policy for seatbelt use by the other passengers."

Moyer said Arlington's policies "follow the New York state law, which is that bus drivers are required to wear seat belts. Passengers are not. We encourage students to wear them."

New York State Police investigate the scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.
New York State Police investigate the scene of a crash between an Arlington Central School District bus and a New York State Police cruiser in LaGrange on March 8, 2022.

Asked about staff members, such as bus monitors, wearing seat belts, he said, "We don’t really try to, I guess, force the bus monitors to do something that’s not required by law that they have to do."

The investigation is ongoing, according to police, who said the investigation is being led by the state Attorney General's Office, which said it was reviewing the matter.

The incident falls under state law 70-b, which specifies the Attorney General's Office investigate "any incident in which the death of a person" occurs during interaction with law enforcement.

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This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Arlington school bus crashed after running stop sign: state police