New lawsuit adds to list faulting Farmingdale school district over bus crash

Another Farmingdale parent has sued the school district over the Sept. 21 band bus crash upstate that injured dozens of high school musicians and killed two educators.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Nassau County Supreme Court on behalf of Christopher Malanga and his daughter, whose name in court documents was redacted except for the initials AM, says the girl sustained “severe and permanent personal injuries” in the crash.

Also named as defendants are Nesconset-based bus company Regency Transportation and one of its drivers, Lisa Schaffer, of Centereach.

The lawsuit is at least the second filed against the district and at least the 14th to stem from the crash, which occurred on Interstate 84 near upstate Wawayanda as band members and chaperones were headed to a weekend training camp.

Band director Gina Pellettiere and chaperone Beatrice Ferrari were killed.

The latest suit, like most of its predecessors, accuses the defendants of negligence and asks for unspecified damages. It singles out Farmingdale and Regency for their roles in hiring and training Schaffer.

Schaffer could not be reached Tuesday. A Farmingdale schools representative did not comment. A man who answered the phone at Regency, and Malanga, reached by phone, both declined to comment.

Not all lawsuits stemming from the crash have been filed on behalf of parents. In February, Newsday reported that Regency had sued the state of New York and the University at Buffalo, and separately Stony Brook University, alleging breach of contract over cancellation of trips after the crash.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation is underway, according to the agency, whose representatives have said a full report could take one to two years.

The agency’s preliminary description of the events leading to the crash found that a Regency-operated 2014 Prevost bus taking 40 high school students and four adults from Farmingdale to band camp in Greeley, Pennsylvania, crashed on a section of Interstate 84, leaving the right lane and crossing the left before leaving the westbound roadway. The bus ran through a roadside cable barrier and down a depressed earthen median, stopping on its side at the bottom.

Several adults were ejected from the bus during the crash, according to the agency’s description. It did not name Schaffer but said the bus driver was “seriously injured.” The NTSB description does not name Pellettiere and Ferrari but said the two people killed in the crash were “front-row occupants” of the bus. The preliminary description does not identify the cause of the crash or assign blame.