MAMARONECK — Within hours of the deadly June 20 crash that killed a 43-year-old mother and her 6-year-old son — struck by a school bus in a crosswalk on Mamaroneck Avenue on their way to school — the Village of Mamaroneck Police Department issued a press release stating that “at this time it appears this incident was a tragic accident” and that “no charges are pending” against the bus driver.
But nearly two weeks after the crash, following the funerals of Molly Murphey Donovan and Michael “Mikey” Donovan Volpe, the investigation continues as Mamaroneck Village Police Chief Sandra DiRuzza awaits the results of an extensive investigation by the Westchester County Police Accident Investigation Unit.
After the crash: Changes considered for Mamaroneck intersection by school where mother and 6-year-old son died
That county team will document the accident and present its findings, supporting DiRuzza’s department, which is leading the police investigation into the case.
Lt. Mark Gatta, public information officer for the village police, said the county’s work takes time because it has to collect all the information from Mamaroneck detectives and use a 3D laser scanner to reconstruct the entire scene before “making a decision and writing a report.”
Name of bus driver will not be released until investigation is complete
Gatta said the preliminary work, “the detective work,” was done by Village of Mamaroneck detectives, who processed the crime scene and interviewed witnesses, including the driver of the minivan. It is in accordance with department policy, Gatta said, not to release the name of the driver, who has been identified only as a 68-year-old Mount Vernon man.
(The village has denied two Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the USA Today Network New York seeking documents and information in the case, citing an exception the law provides for an ongoing police investigation.)
Gatta said the driver’s name will be released after the investigation is complete.
“If charges are filed, we will release the name,” he said. “If the ultimate decision is not to file charges, we will release the name. Once we release the name, there will obviously be a lot of investigation into that particular individual.”
Gatta said releasing the driver’s name while the investigation is ongoing could change the situation.
“When we’ve interviewed him so far, he’s been 100 percent cooperative,” the lieutenant said. “If we release the name, he might stop cooperating. And that’s what we don’t want.”
The investigation included “visiting the bus company, speaking to his supervisors and looking at any disciplinary action, if he had any,” Gatta said.
“The investigation will continue until the reconstruction of the accident is completed, until we have the final say on that, and then we will do a final assessment, probably with the district attorney’s office,” to determine whether the driver should be charged, he said.
No charges have been filed yet, he said.
“At this point, unless there are significant changes, we don’t view it as a reckless act, and certainly not an intentional act, but just an absolutely terrible accident.”
Soon safety assessment of schools in the village of Mamaroneck
Chief DiRuzza said stakeholders from the county, school district and village will meet the week of July 8 to assess traffic safety around the schools the village oversees. This includes two schools in the Mamaroneck School District, Mamaroneck Avenue School (where Michael Volpe attended kindergarten) and Mamaroneck High School, along with schools in the Rye Neck School District that are part of the Village of Mamaroneck.
Gatta said the investigation does not need to be completed for the safety assessment to continue.
“We can just go ahead and say, ‘Let’s make things safer,’” he said.
The week of July 8th is also the week that a camp opens at Mamaroneck Avenue School. This means that families will walk to school via Mamaroneck Avenue and cross the busy thoroughfare at New Street, where a makeshift memorial of stuffed animals, posters, toy cars and action figures has been erected in memory of the deceased school friend and his mother.
That intersection will have something else it didn’t have the morning “Mikey” and his mother were struck and killed: there will be a traffic controller stationed at that intersection.
Contact Peter D. Kramer at pkramer@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Why officers won’t identify bus driver in Mamaroneck crash that killed mother and son
