One Dead, Four Injured After Truck Strikes Chinatown Bus

One person is dead and four injured after a truck collided with a bus in Chinatown yesterday morning, sending it careening over the curb and into a bank.

Witnesses said the truck, operated by CPQ Freight Systems, exited the Manhattan Bridge at high speed and slammed into a parked Fung Wah bus, propelling it into a Commerce Bank storefront and scattering glass into the street.

Juan Rodriguez, 35, said he was driving on the bridge when the truck passed him moments before the accident.

"I was going 80 and he passed me. I think he might have been asleep," Mr. Rodriguez said.

Police said the operator of the truck, Alejandro Fallo, 54, was in stable condition and had passed a Breathalyzer test. Investigators are working to determine whether brake failure caused Mr. Fallo to lose control of the vehicle. He has not yet been charged with a crime, police said.

"I'm never going on that bus again," Remy Rahman, 23, said. Mr. Rahman was third in line to board the Fung Wah bus when it was struck.

Lai Ho, 57, who was waiting to cross the street, was killed by debris from a lamppost destroyed by the speeding truck.

Four others were admitted to Bellevue Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital, and New York Downtown Hospital with minor to moderate injuries, fire department officials said.

The accident marked the fifth time in four days pedestrians in the city had been hit by a vehicle.