By Sadef Ali Kully
The driver involved in the MTA bus crash into the backyard of a home near South Conduit Oct 3, was charged Wednesday for possessing 64 zip lock bags of cocaine and other charges stemming from the incident, announced the District Attorney’s office.
According to the criminal complaint, 24-year-old Chevon Parchment from Elmont, Long Island is facing a long list of charges, including possession of a criminal substance, fleeing from police, obstructing arrest, reckless endangerment, failure to stop at a red light and a stop sign, failure to signal before making a turn and a seatbelt violation.
According to court records, Police noticed Parchment without a seatbelt but when they tried to stop him— he fled in his white 2015 Chrysler at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour going right through three red lights. Then MTA Q113 bus tried to swerve his car, but crashed into it, slammed two parked cars and rammed through a fence into the backyard of a two-story home in Springfield Gardens.
After Parchment’s arrest, court records said during a search of his vehicle police officers found 64 mini ziplock bags of crack cocaine, weighing in at one-eighth of an ounce.
A dozen passengers on the bus suffered minor injuries and were taken to various hospitals, but no one in the house was hurt, police said.
According to a neighbor, the family who lived in the house—a couple in their 70s along with with their children and grandchildren—escaped harm. They were at home celebrating the father’s 74th birthday with a small party.
“God stopped that bus,” said the neighbor, whose home is attached to the home the family lived in. “I had just put my children to bed and I heard the crash.”
The neighbor described the crash site as a close call for her neighbors and her own family. “The bus was inches away from their kitchen window,” she said. “If that bus kept going—it would have ended up in my kids’ room.”
The Q113 bus was traveling east on South Conduit Road after 9 p.m. when a white four-door sedan traveling south on Guy R. Brewer Blvd. ran a red light and turned left into its lane, an MTA spokeswoman said.
The Q113, a limited bus service, starts its journey at Beach 20 Street in Far Rockaway, runs via Nassau Expressway and Rockaway Boulevard, and ends its journey at Hillside Avenue near Parsons Boulevard.
Parchment, who is still still hospitalized, has bail set for $100,000 and scheduled to be in court Oct 21. If convicted, he could face up to nine years in prison.
Reach Reporter Sadef Ali Kully by e-mail at skull
