Farmingdale High School bus crash victims in Westchester, Orange discharged; 2nd suit filed

All patients injured in the Farmingdale High School band bus crash who were in Orange and Westchester County hospitals have been discharged, authorities said Monday, but the legal ramifications surrounding the tragedy continue to grow, with at least one more lawsuit from a family alleging negligence, according to court records. 

It was unclear if any student musicians or adult chaperones remained hospitalized in New York City or on Long Island on Monday. State police and a spokeswoman for Northwell Health, which operates Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, where at least one student had been treated, referred a request for comment to the Farmingdale School District; district officials did not comment Monday afternoon.   

The Sept. 21 crash in rural Orange County, in which the band’s rented motor coach tumbled down a 50-foot highway embankment, left 42 children hospitalized and killed two adults, band director Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and Beatrice Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale, a retired social studies teacher who was acting as a chaperone on the annual trip to a marching band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania.

“It is amazing that we didn’t lose more lives and are now down to the single digits of students that are still hospitalized and getting medical treatment,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a Monday morning news conference announcing an upcoming fundraiser to raise money for crash victims. 

Some of the children will face ongoing medical and “emotional issues” and Pellettiere left a young orphan son, Blakeman said. 

Todd Crocitto, a Briarcliff Manor warehouse manager and cousin of Audrina Crocitto, one of the injured students, said in a phone interview Monday that his cousin had been released from Cohen Children’s Medical Center on Saturday after surgery to her spine.

“She’s in extreme pain,” he said, and her parents are “emotionally distraught. They’re very concerned about her day-to-day pain and what her future will bring.” 

The lawsuit filed Monday in Suffolk County Supreme Court is at least the second filed on behalf of families of students aboard the bus. The plaintiffs are a Suffolk County man, Jean David Alexandre, and his son, identified only by the initials D.A.

It expands the pool of defendants from bus company Regency Transportation LTD of Nesconset and driver Lisa Schaffer to include companies that inspected or repaired the bus, along with companies that may have made or sold products that could be implicated in the crash, like the bus’ tires. Authorities initially said a number of contributing factors, including a faulty left front tire, mechanical issues and driver error, may have been the cause, but the National Transportation Safety Board has an ongoing probe.

The companies being sued have not yet been identified, according to court papers, which allege the defendants’ negligence caused the crash. D.A. sustained “multiple fractures, significant head trauma, and other serious injuries and conditions,” in the crash, according to the suit. 

At least one earlier lawsuit against Regency and Schaffer was filed last week on behalf of the father of a 14-year-old girl who was in the band. 

Regency did not respond to a message left with its answering service. Schaffer could not be reached. A man who answered the phone at a number associated with Alexandre did not comment, and Alexander Shapiro, Alexandre’s Manhattan-based lawyer, did not respond to a message.

Farmingdale’s homecoming is Friday, and in the week leading up to the game — which will include pregame and halftime appearances by the band — the district is offering counseling and a Tuesday night memorial service for Pellettiere and Ferrari, Superintendent Paul Defendini said in a message over the weekend.

Blakeman, flanked at a Monday appearance by Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder and police union leaders, said proceeds of a Wednesday fundraiser at Mulcahy’s Pub would go to the band, which will distribute them to band members whose medical insurance may not fully cover care, and to a fund for Pellettiere’s 2-year-old son.. 

Several online fundraisers have also been established, including at least two for student musicians undergoing surgeries. 

Officials for the NTSB said Monday they anticipated a preliminary report on the bus crash would be available in late October, about 30 business days from the time it occurred.