PARAMUS

Video of deadly Paramus bus crash shows driver enter Rt. 80, make hard left across 3 lanes

Steve Janoski
NorthJersey
A school bus carrying middle school students from Paramus was ripped from its chassis in an accident with a dump truck on Route 80 west. May 17, 2018. Mount Olive, NJ

Editor’s note: NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sued for access to this video, which was initially denied by the State of New Jersey. Our reasons were twofold: As journalists, we must protect the public’s right to know and defend the First Amendment. And as members of the community we serve, we wanted to answer lingering questions about how a field trip by a Paramus middle school turned deadly. These are not easy decisions to make and we don’t take them lightly. However, the public’s right to know how an accident occurred - one involving public employees and public school children on a public road - outweighed other concerns regarding the publication of this video.

The state Attorney General's Office released a video Friday of the horrific Route 80 bus crash earlier this year that left a Paramus teacher and student dead and injured dozens of others. 

The video was recorded by a state Department of Transportation traffic camera positioned some distance from the crash site. NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey requested the video shortly after the crash, but its release was denied by the state police.

The recording was released on the order of state Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson following a lawsuit by Gannett Co., the parent company of NorthJersey.com. 

The grainy recording is not explicit in nature. But it does illuminate actions taken by the bus driver as he appears to make a 90 degree left turn across three lanes of highway traffic in a bus filled with Paramus fifth-graders on a school trip to Waterloo Village. 

A red dump truck enters the bottom of the frame about 30 seconds in. As it travels west in the middle lane, the bus, driven by Hudy Muldrow, Sr., approaches the highway from an on-ramp in the upper right-hand corner of the frame.

After a slight hesitation, the bus crosses the lanes, appearing to aim for an official-use-only highway turnaround across the median. The dump truck broadsides the bus. The video pauses at the moment of impact and ends shortly after. The collision ripped the body of the bus from its chassis, although that is not discernable in the video. 

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Muldrow, 77, an employee of the Paramus Board of Education, has since been charged with two counts of death by auto for allegedly causing the deaths of East Brook Middle School student Miranda Vargas, 10, and teacher Jennifer Williamson-Kennedy, 51.

He has not been charged with assault by auto for injuries caused to the 42 surviving passengers, which include students and teachers. 

Criminal charges will likely be presented to a grand jury within the next two months.

The bus Muldrow was driving was part of a three-bus caravan on its way to Waterloo Village in Stanhope when the May 17 accident occurred.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

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