Nearly paralyzed Farmingdale teen recalls terrifying bus crash  

For 15-year-old Audrina Crocitto, the memories of that horrific afternoon 34 days ago are brief and scattered, tinged with a sense of disbelief and unimaginable pain.

The sudden shaking of the Farmingdale High School charter school bus, followed by the driver's violent swerve that would roll the vehicle down a precipitous 50-foot embankment and into a ditch.

The terrifying feeling of being launched airborne from one side of the bus to the other, through a window and to the cold grass outside, littered with members of the school marching band, teachers and chaperones, all on their way to weekend band camp in Pennsylvania.

The sense of duty felt by Crocitto, a junior firefighter in Farmingdale, to help her injured classmate free her foot from a shattered window, as she did her best to block out the agony jolting down her neck and back.

And then darkness.

"I think I blacked out," Crocitto said Wednesday as she returned to Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where she was airlifted for emergency spinal surgery only hours after the Sept. 21 crash in the town of Wawayanda that killed band director Gina Pellettiere and retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari and injured dozens of her classmates. "And then I wake up and see what happened. And I'm like, 'is this real?'" 

Dr. Shaun Rodgers, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Cohen Children's, said Crocitto was nearly paralyzed in the crash, sustaining a nonoperative fracture in her neck and a fractured vertebrae in her spine.

A team of doctors performed emergency spinal fusion surgery, installing four screws and two titanium rods to stabilize the teen's spine. They also performed a surgery known as a laminectomy to remove part of a bone in Crocitto's spinal cord that was bleeding.

"This is very serious," Rodgers said during a news conference in the hospital atrium. " … If the bone is fractured so much and it dislocates, you can become paralyzed from the waist down. She's very lucky that the bone stayed at least somewhat in place and we were able to correct her deformity."

Crocitto spent nine days in the hospital alongside classmate Ashley Betts, who sustained 16 broken bones, multiple spinal fractures and a collapsed lung in the crash. Betts was released Oct. 6, the last of the injured passengers to leave the hospital.

Crocitto is expected to make a full recovery and says she's even more determined to follow her dream of becoming a full-time firefighter and EMT — a path blazed by her grandfather and sister, former and current captains, respectively, in the Hicksville Volunteer Fire Department.

"I want to make sure to help out as much as I can," Crocitto said. "I just want to make sure I give it back."

But for now, her recovery is long and far from swift.

Crocitto continues to wear a cervical collar for her neck fracture and has difficulty walking or sitting still for long stretches.

"Kids are very resilient," said Audrina's mother, Kristi Crocitto. "But she has been so strong. I'm so proud of her. It's a long road but she gets a little bit stronger every day."

And while Crocitto, a freshman, has yet to return to school — taking classes virtually out of concerns that she might get knocked in a crowded hallway — she did return for the school's Oct. 6 homecoming parade, arriving in a wheelchair.

"I got very emotional just seeing the band play," she said. "They sound like they just got better."

Crocitto on Wednesday also shared an emotional reunion with Michael Bosi and Ahmed Alhadi, the two Northwell Health flight paramedics who airlifted the injured teen to Long Island hours after the crash.

"She was pretty far from home," Alhadi said. "Long Island is a big place but it's a small community. And it felt good to go up and bring her down to Long Island so she could be closer to home."

Crocitto, who helped present the pair with Daler Strong T-shirts, recalled being hesitant to get onto the helicopter but relenting with the help of the calm and reassuring flight nurses.

"They really calmed me down," she said. " … They talked to me and explained what was going to happen. And I finally chose to [get on the helicopter]. It was the fastest way to get better."

Crocitto insists there's been one more person who deserves credit for her recovery: Pellettiere, the school's beloved band director.

Donning a sweatshirt Wednesday bearing the word "Duuude" — Pellettiere's ever-present greeting — Crocitto said "Ms. P" served as an angel that fateful afternoon, ensuring that all of her students returned home to their families instead of going through heaven's gates.

"Ms. Pellettiere was at those gates. She said, 'No, I'm not letting any of my students [in],'" Crocitto said. "No, she wouldn't let that happen. I think she's the reason why a lot of us are here today."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.