BY TEQUILLA MINSKY | In a deadly traffic accident that killed an M.T.A. bus driver and left several others injured on Wednesday, around 5:30 a.m., a stolen truck crashed into a 14th St. cross-town bus at Seventh Ave., sending both vehicles careening into the intersection’s southeast corner.
The vehicles smashed into a scaffold, and two parked cars and a cab were also struck.
According to the police report, E.M.S. medics responded to the scene and declared the bus’s operator, William Pena, 49, of Hillside, N.J., dead on arrival. A 17-year veteran driver of the cross-town route, Pena was married and had a teenage daughter. According to the New York Post, he was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the bus by the impact of hitting the scaffold.
Two pedestrians at the location were removed to local hospitals in stable condition. Three passengers on the bus were also injured, as was 15-year food vendor Ashraf Marei, who, enclosed inside his food cart, suffered minor injuries after a cab clipped his cart and boiling water spilled on him. He was treated at Beth Israel.
A person on a three-wheeled scooter who was struck by the truck prior to the collision with the bus was removed to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
The stolen orange box truck’s sides were marked “18 Rabbits Granola.” The driver — identified by the Daily News as Dominic Whilby, 22, of Georgia — was removed to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The Post subsequently reported that Whilby is the nephew of male model Tyson Beckford and had been out drinking with him and Beckford’s girlfriend, Victoria’s Secret model Shanina Shaik, at a Fashion Week party in Chelsea. Whilby was reportedly bounced from 1OAK on W. 17th St. around 3:30 a.m. for “getting too frisky with some women,” then wandered over to the nearby Maritime Hotel on W. 16th St., where he passed out in the lobby and was again kicked out. Drifting down the street and unable to find a limo, he jumped into the truck, which had the keys in the ignition, and took off, crashing into several parked cars along the way.
According to the police report, around 5:30 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call for a burglary at 347 W. 16th St. Upon arrival, they were informed by an employee that an unidentified male had entered the employee’s delivery truck and driven away from the location.
Officers conducted a canvass of the area for the vehicle and discovered it had been involved in the collision at 14th St. and Seventh Ave. with an eastbound M14D bus. The bus was an articulated, or double-long, model.
The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending against Whilby. The Post reported that, according to sources, he could be charged with murder.
The accident snarled morning rush hour at and around the intersection. Vehicular traffic was rerouted, while pedestrians were prevented from crossing the intersection in any direction. Especially inconvenienced were the many workers trying to find a way to cross the street and enter the building that the bus and truck struck, as well at students who attend Star Career Academy, which is located in the building.
