4 NYC Transit Workers Honored In The Bronx For Saving Passengers: MTA

MID HUDSON VALLEY — Four New York City Transit bus employees were honored Wednesday at the Zerega Bus Depot in the Bronx by MTA Chief Operating Officer Craig Cipriano because of their quick thinking in rescuing passengers in an overturned yellow school bus on the Hutchinson River Parkway two weeks ago.

The bus, which was carrying 37 school bus drivers who work for city-run summer programs, was turning on exit ramp 1A onto Bruckner Boulevard, flipped onto its side shortly before 6 a.m. on July 21, according to the MTA.

Superintendent of Maintenance David Baird, General Superintendent David Chen, Bus Maintainer Stephen Parrino and Bus Maintainer Robert Sweeney were all traveling separately on their way to work that day when they saw the flipped bus on its side on the roadway and all four transit employees pulled over and came to assist the passengers, said the transportation agency.

Baird and Chen opened the bus roof’s emergency doors and windows and with the help of Sweeney and Parrino, they moved the passengers away from the street onto grass. Baird also used a first aid kit from the bus to bandage the passengers' scrapes and cuts, reported the MTA.

“We look at our employees as heroes every day for providing an essential service to New York 24/7,” Cipriano said in a statement. “But every so often we see an extraordinary act of bravery from our employees and this for sure is one of them.”

Baird said he and his co-workers got everybody off the bus.

“I walked over and saw people around the bus screaming,” Baird said in a statement. “They had opened one of the bus’s emergency hatches but were struggling to open the other one, so I helped open it and helped the people climb out. I was happy to be there to help.”

Chen had called 911.

“It was about 10 minutes before the police and first fire truck showed up,” Chen said in a prepared statement. “There was one lady who could not stand or lie down because she was in pain and I helped her sit upright and stayed with her until EMS arrived.”

As Sweeney and Parrino waited for emergency services to arrive, they stopped to see if anyone needed assistance.

“I helped people climb out the bus through the windshield and laid them on the grass,” Parrino said via a statement. “I went around to make sure everyone was okay until police arrived.”

Cipriano said the four men proudly represented the MTA.

“They … took quick decisive action to help out these passengers,” added Cipriano.

Three people were in serious but stable conditions, added the MTA.