Employees at Anderson Glass Company in West Haven are returning to work on Monday after a bus crashed into one of their buildings over the weekend.
Police said there were 50 Princeton students on board, heading to the school's football game against Yale. Four students were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The driver, who had to be extricated, had more serious injuries, but was in fair condition, as of Sunday.
“We heard the bus driver calling for people to help him get out from underneath all the material, so like three guys were trying to lift the material that was covering the bus driver," said Sonia Ann Friscia, a passenger on the bus.
The owner of Anderson Glass Company said two of his employees were standing nearby when the bus came barreling towards them. He said in the last few moments, the bus driver made a hard left and crashed.
He commended the driver for how he handled a very scary turn of events that could have ended much worse.
”It seems to me like he was a hero. From what I understand, he was telling all the students ‘I don’t have any brakes, get ready,’ and he drove his bus into the softest target here, which was the garage and fortunately nobody was in that,” said John Anderson, President of Anderson Glass Co.
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“The bus driver did a great job of actually steering us through to safety. He saved a lot of people," George England, a passenger on the bus added.
The crash leveled part of the shop, but it reopened on Monday morning.
”One of my guys is off today. He is a little shaken up, but no physical injuries for anybody on our end. We’re happy that no one was hurt and back to work. We can fix the building. Just happy everyone is safe,” Anderson said.
West Haven Police believe the investigation could take up to several months to complete.
In a statement, Coach USA said it is fully cooperating with police.
