Tour bus driver charged with manslaughter in crash that killed 5 during return trip from Niagara Falls
The driver of a coach tour bus that overturned while returning from a trip to Niagara Falls in upstate New York last year, killing five people, has been charged with manslaughter following a monthslong investigation, authorities announced on Friday.
The deadly crash occurred in August 2025 on Interstate 90 in Pembroke, near Buffalo, according to New York State Police. The bus overturned and rolled off the highway, with multiple people ejected or thrown around the bus, police said.
The driver -- identified by police as 56-year-old Bin Shao, of Flushing, New York -- was arrested this week and charged with five counts of second-degree manslaughter and five counts of criminally negligent homicide, according to Capt. Dan Howard with the New York State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Shao was arraigned on Friday in Genesee County and pleaded not guilty to the 10 counts in the indictment, according to Genesee County District Attorney Kevin Finnell. He is currently being held in Genesee County Jail on $100,000 bond, Finnell said. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Finnell said there was no evidence of any kind of impairment from drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
"The charges stem from the decisions made and the actions taken by Mr. Shao as he operated the bus on the New York State Thruway in Pembroke," Finnell said at a press briefing on Friday.
Finnell did not go into specifics of the prosecution's case or the allegations.
The indictment was returned at the end of January, according to Finnell. Shao was arrested on Wednesday at a business in Putnam Valley, authorities said.
The bus crash was a "large-scale and complex incident," involving hundreds of first responders, Howard said.
Fifty-four people total were on the bus, ranging in age from 1 to 74, police said.
Five adults were found dead at the scene, police said: Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of Madhu Bani, India; Pinki Changrani, 60, of East Brunswick, New Jersey; Xie Hongzhuo, 22, of Beijing, China, a Columbia University Student; Zhang Xiaolan, 55, of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Jian Mingli, 56, of Jersey City, New Jersey.
All survivors were transported to area hospitals, police said.
The passengers were from seven countries, "which underscores the wide-reaching impact of this tragedy," Howard said at Friday's press briefing.
