Killed In New Jersey Bus Accident
Students at a Fresh Meadows school mourned the death of one of their students last Friday, Aug. 31, a Woodside resident who died when he stuck his head out of a hatch in the roof of a bus and fatally struck an overpass in New Jersey.
Daniel Fernandez, 16, was one of 65 teenagers aboard a double-decker bus heading from New York City to Garfield, N.J. for a birthday party, according to the Associated Press.
While the bus was driving southbound on Interstate 95 through the town of Fort Lee, N.J., Fernandez, reportedly looking for a respite from the heat inside the bus, opened an overhead emergency hatch, only to hit his head on the overpass.
The Port Authority Police Department, responding from the nearby George Washington Bridge, came to the scene, according to news reports; Fernandez was pronounced dead a short time later at a nearby hospital.
Fernandez was a junior at St. Francis Prep, where a candlelight vigil was held Saturday night. A funeral was held on Monday, Sept. 3 at Kearns Funeral Home.
“The St. Francis Prep community shares in the grief and shock of this young man’s sudden death,” says a message posted on the school website as of Tuesday, Sept. 4. “Our hearts and prayers are with Daniel Fernandez’s family and friends.”
