An NJ Transit bus driver has been charged in connection with a crash that sent a police officer to the intensive care unit last month, authorities announced Monday.
Djimmy Evra, 40, was charged with one count of fourth-degree assault by auto with serious bodily injury for the wreck in Roseland on June 20, NJ.com reported. A warrant was issued Friday for his arrest.
Marc Miller, a 29-year-old officer with the Roseland Police Department, was seriously injured in the collision. Miller spent nearly two weeks in the ICU before he was transferred to a less intensive unit during the first week in July, according to TapInto West Essex.
Investigators said Evra was behind the wheel of an NJ Transit bus when he sped through a red light at the intersection of Livingston Avenue and Prudential Drive, NJ.com reported. The bus struck Miller’s vehicle; the officer was on duty at the time of the crash.
Miller was airlifted to a hospital in Newark, and three passengers on the bus also suffered various injuries, according to police. Evra was also injured in the wreck and hospitalized for minor injuries.
“Reckless driving puts lives at risk, and we will hold anyone accountable who endangers public safety whether they are behind the wheel of a personal vehicle or public transportation,” Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens told NJ.com.
The wreck is Roseland was not the most high-profile NJ Transit bus crash in recent weeks. On July 2, three NJ Transit buses collided at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, injuring 12 people and causing significant delays out of the busy transit hub. The cause of that crash remains under investigation, but initial reports indicated one bus driver may have suffered a medical emergency.
