NYPD: Car cut off casino bus before it crashed
NEW YORK (AP) — A driver who cut off a casino bus before it jumped a curb and slammed into a brick building, injuring six people, has been ticketed, police said Tuesday.
Resorts World Casino bus driver James Honorat swerved to avoid the Toyota sedan and sheared off part of a three-story building in Queens on Monday afternoon, officials said. The 37-year-old man behind the wheel of the Toyota had turned right from the far left lane, police said, and he was issued a summons for making an improper turn.
Honorat, 39, had to be cut from the wreckage and is hospitalized with injuries to his face and hands, police said. He has not been charged with a crime.
A woman who answered a phone number registered to him did not speak English and handed the receiver to a child who said her mother and father were at the hospital.
Five other passengers were treated at a hospital for their injuries, which included neck and arm pain and cuts, authorities said.
A vacate order has been issued for the building, which housed a mortgage services company, a law office and two residential apartments, said Buildings Department spokesman Alexander Schnell.
The bus has since been removed and a construction fence is being installed, Schnell said.
Representatives for Resorts World Casino and the Brooklyn-based bus operator, Trans Express, have said they're cooperating with investigators.
Resorts World Casino, in Queens, has free shuttle bus service at several locations in all five boroughs. A spokesman for the casino said the bus was heading toward Manhattan at the time of the crash.