Farmingdale High band director Gina Pellettiere's estate files lawsuit in bus crash

The estate of a beloved Farmingdale high school music teacher, who was killed a year ago when a bus full of students heading to a marching band camp in Pennsylvania crashed, has filed a lawsuit alleging that the bus company failed to properly inspect the bus’ equipment.

The administrators of Gina Pellettiere's estate, listed in court documents as Diane and Joseph Pellettiere, filed the lawsuit last week in Nassau County Supreme Court. Around the same time, Danielle Mammolito filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of her son, who was injured in the crash. He was identified in court documents by his initials.

The families sued the Nesconset-based Regency Transportation, driver Lisa Schaffer and Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations over alleged negligence, seeking unspecified monetary damages. The Mammolito suit also names the Farmingdale school district as a defendant.

Garden City-based attorney, Deanne Caputo, who is representing both plaintiff parties, and Mammolito could not immediately reached for comment on Sunday evening. The Pellettieres referred comment to their attorney.

The parties have become the latest to file a suit since the September 2023 crash in which a bus full of students and educators tumbled and flipped down a 50-foot ravine. More than a dozen suits have been filed by parents whose children were passengers on the bus.

Regency, Bridgestone and the Farmingdale school district did not immediately return requests for comment. Schaffer declined to comment.

Band director Gina Pellettiere, 43, and former teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, who served as a chaperone on the trip, were killed in the Sept. 21 crash on Interstate 84 near upstate Wawayanda. Dozens of students were injured.

The latest suits argue that Regency and its driver failed to “properly and thoroughly” inspect the bus’ equipment including its brakes and tires, causing the bus to be unsafe to operate. The suits also allege that Schaffer operated the bus at excessive rates of speed before the crash and did not have “reasonable control”  of the bus, among other issues.

Bridgestone was the brand of tires used on the bus that day.

The Mammolito suit alleges that the Farmingdale school district improperly transported students because Regency was “previously classified as an Unacceptable Operator by the New York State Department of Transportation.”

The Regency-operated 2014 Prevost bus was to take 40 high school students and four adults from Farmingdale to band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which has been investigating the crash, said in a preliminary report on the crash that the bus switched lanes, crossing to the left before leaving the westbound roadway. The bus struck a roadside cable barrier and rolled down a depressed earthen median.

The crash ejected several adults from the bus, according to the agency's description. Though it did not name Schaffer, it said the bus driver was "seriously injured." The NTSB did not identify the cause of the crash or assign blame.

Peter C. Knudson, an NTSB spokesman, told Newsday last week that the investigation into the crash was ongoing.

“Most NTSB highway investigations are completed within 12-24 months from the date of the crash,” Knudson  said. 

The Farmingdale school district, in a statement from Sam Thompson, Assistant to the Superintendent for Administration, said it could not comment on the suits. The statement added: "The emotional toll on our students, faculty and staff, our community, and especially the families of our two beloved educators who were taken from us that day, has been and remains unimaginable."

Bridgestone Tires also didn't comment on the suit but said in a statement that the company "offers its condolences to those injured in the crash and the families of the two deceased passengers."