Tour bus driver indicted on homicide charges in deadly NY Thruway crash
See the NTSB explain what happened in fatal New York bus crash
The National Transportation Safety Board gave an update on a New York tour bus crash that killed at least five people and injured others.
The bus driver involved in last summer’s deadly tour bus crash has been indicted on multiple homicide and manslaughter charges, New York State Police announced Friday.
Bin Shao, 56, of Flushing, was charged with five counts of criminally negligent homicide and five counts of second-degree manslaughter, both felonies. Each count corresponds to one of the five people killed in the Aug. 22, 2025, crash, Genesee County District Attorney Kevin Finnell said at a Friday afternoon news conference.
Finnell said the charges stemmed from actions and decisions Shao made while operating the bus but declined to provide specific details. There is no evidence that drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash, he said.
The second-degree manslaughter charges carry a potential sentence ranging from an unconditional discharge or probation to five to 15 years in state prison. The criminally negligent homicide charges carry a possible sentence of unconditional discharge, probation or up to four years in prison.
New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Capt. Dan Howard said Shao was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 11 in Putnam Valley after he was indicted by a Genesee County grand jury.
“This was a large-scale and complex incident involving more than 300 first responders and 95 members of the New York State Police,” Howard said. “Investigators conducted interviews with passengers, hospital staff and witnesses, processed extensive digital evidence, and reconstructed the crash through the Troop A Collision Reconstruction Unit.”
Shao was arraigned Friday, Feb. 13 in Genesee County Court, where he pleaded not guilty. Bail was set at $100,000. Shao is scheduled to return to court on March 9 for a discovery conference.
Deadly crash on the Thruway
Five people were killed and dozens more injured on Aug. 22, 2025, when a tour bus operated by Staten Island-based M&Y Tours was returning to New York City from a sightseeing trip to Niagara Falls. Authorities said the bus veered off the road in Pembroke, Genesee County, and rolled multiple times.
What investigators have said
Troopers previously said the driver Shao of Flushing, became distracted moments before the crash. According to state police, Shao lost control of the bus and overcorrected, causing it to leave the roadway and overturn. There were 54 people on board at the time — 52 passengers and two employees of the tour company. Many passengers were not wearing seat belts, and several were ejected when the bus overturned.
Victims of deadly bus crash
The five people who died at the scene were:
- Jian Mingli, 56, of Jersey City, New Jersey
- 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
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