The Bucks County high schooler seriously hurt in a Boston bus crash earlier this month returned to the area by medical plane last night.
Neshaminey High School student Matt Cruz, 17, spent almost four weeks in a Boston Hospital after a tour bus carrying passengers from the Philadelphia area struck an overpass on a Boston road Feb. 2.
That bus was carrying 33 students and nine chaperones with the Destined for a Dream Foundation -- a non-profit group that helps underprivileged kids. In total 39 people including the driver were hurt but Cruz suffered the most serious injuries.
As Cruz recovers from severe spinal cord injuries at Jefferson University Hospital, his attorney James Ronca says he wants to know what caused the Calvary Coach bus to crash into a 10-foot high overpass along Soldier’s Field Road.
Ronca told NBC10 that Cruz’s medical bills continue to mount and that Cruz will likely have lifelong medical problems as a result of his injuries.
As Cruz recovers, there is still no official cause of the crash. The District Attorney in Suffolk County, Mass. says that crash reconstruction isn’t complete and that the investigation continues.
Ronca says he has launched an investigation of his own. He wants to know why Calvary driver Samuel Jackson didn’t exit the roadway before the low-hanging overpass.
“There was an exit just before the overpass that he struck that he could have gotten off, less than 200 yards,” Ronca told NBC10’s Deanna Durante.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Soon after the wreck Talmadge said that Jackson had looked at a GPS unit right before the crash. Ronca says that the neither the driver nor Philadelphia-based Calvary Coach owner Ray Talmadge have spoken to him about the incident. NBC10 was also unable to reach either man Thursday.
Ronca says he wants to examine the GPS unit, the damaged bus and its electronic data recording.
The D.A. says it has yet to determine if anyone will be charged in this case. Leading up to the crash, Calvary had a "satisfactory" rating with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
