A recent NorthJersey.com report shed light on Corradino & Papa attorney Tim Fonseca’s representation of a child who was hit by a car when the school bus her family had trusted to keep her safe let her off at an unauthorized location.
Excerpt:
“Just a few weeks into the school year, an eighth grader from Woodland Park bounded from the bus on a sunny afternoon, looking left, right, and then left again before crossing Weaseldrift Road, a busy thoroughfare with a speed limit of 25 mph.
As the 13-year-old began to cross, her classmates laughed and yelled goodbye through the school bus windows. That laughter quickly turned to shrieks as they watched in horror as a vehicle struck their friend.
The girl survived the September 2022 crash but suffered life-altering injuries.
She should never have been there ― the driver left her at the busy "T" intersection even though it wasn't a designated stop.
In fact, the designated drop-off was across the street in front of her driveway, a location that would have prevented her from making a dash across Weaseldrift. It was a plan her parents and school district officials worked out to avoid having to cross that busy and dangerous road.
School officials emailed the plan with explicit instructions and images to Student Transportation of America, the private bus company hired to shuttle district students. Those instructions were acknowledged by that bus company’s supervisor, emails obtained by The Record and NorthJersey.com show.
‘This should have never happened, it’s a tragedy, it’s entirely preventable,’ said Tim Fonseca, an attorney with the Clifton-based firm Corradino & Papa, LLC who is representing the victim and her family. ‘How many opportunities were there to catch this from the school bus company?’
The crash is a prime example of the failures that continue to plague the New Jersey school bus system, a largely unregulated and sparsely watched collection of private companies charged with getting hundreds of thousands of children to school each day. Some of these companies, as detailed in a months-long investigation in 2020 by The Record and Asbury Park Press, skirt laws and safety regulations. As a result, children and motorists are put in danger, sometimes suffering horrific injuries or being killed.”
. . . .
Eusebio Quinones, the driver in the Woodland Park case, is still employed by Student Transportation of America and was most recently driving buses for the Ridgewood school district, court documents from December 2024 show.
Quinones, who has been a bus driver with Scholastic Bus Company and now STA since 1996, was also involved in two accidents prior to September 2022, one when he was driving a bus and the other in his personal vehicle. Quinones said he was never told he had to report the latter incident to STA, according to court records.”
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This case, as reported by NorthJersey.com, underscores a larger problem: the urgent need for stricter school bus safety enforcement. When drivers and transportation companies fail to follow safety protocols, innocent students can suffer life-changing injuries. Legal action is not only about compensation for the victim—it’s about ensuring that school transportation providers take their responsibility seriously and make necessary improvements.
NorthJersey.com: NJ school bus system problems mount. New safety chief hired but state mum on details
If you or someone you love was injured in a school bus accident, contact Corradino & Papa at 973-381-1706 to schedule a consultation.