Driver in Fatal Bus Crash Says He Was Trying to Avoid Ice

The driver of a bus that ran off a highway during a gambling junket to Atlantic City, killing eight passengers, told investigators that the vehicle spun when he tried to avoid an icy patch in the road.

The driver, 52-year-old Valerie Viner, has a checkered driving record, and his license was suspended twice before the accident Thursday on the Garden State Parkway.

Viner told investigators that he saw an icy patch and was blocked from changing lanes, so he braked. The bus spun around to face oncoming traffic, George Black of the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

The bus, carrying 23 passengers, most of them from a Russian Jewish community in Brooklyn, skidded across two lanes, crashed through a guardrail and tumbled down a slushy embankment. Some victims were thrown from the bus.

About a dozen survivors remained hospitalized Friday, with at least one in critical condition. Viner suffered minor injuries.

Lt. Daniel Cosgrove of the state police said Viner’s account is consistent with those given by witnesses.

Viner drove the route daily from New York City to Atlantic City, and investigators are trying to determine whether he was fatigued, Black said. Tests for drugs and alcohol were also being performed on the driver.

Investigators interviewed him at the hospital with the help of a Russian translator.

About 2 inches of snow had fallen before the crash, and snowplows had cleared two of three lanes. Black did not know if the bus’ lane had been cleared.

Eddie Ginzburg, part owner of Bruins Transportation of Brooklyn, which owns the bus, said on Thursday that Viner had never had an accident.

The New York motor vehicles agency said Viner’s professional driver’s license was suspended in March because he had more than nine violation points on his record, including two convictions for speeding and failing to stop for a school bus.

His license was reinstated in June after he took a retraining course, agency spokesman Joseph Picci said.

Viner also was involved in an accident involving property damage in 1996 and his license was suspended a year earlier for failing to pay a ticket.