Norfolk Passenger Chu Tze Sawyer is Killed in VA Beach Crash Involving School Bus

Police have named the passenger of a Mercury Villager who was killed on Friday in a three-vehicle crash in Virginia Beach on Friday that included a school bus.

In a press release Virginia Beach police said on October 3, 2014 at about 2:10 p.m., first responders received a report of a multi-vehicle crash close to the intersection of South Independence Boulevard and Silverleaf Drive. It involved Virginia Beach Public School Bus # 787 which had no students on it at the time.

Investigators later determined that a 2000 Mercury Villager was attempting to cross South Independence Boulevard at the intersection of Silverleaf Drive, while the school bus was traveling northbound on South Independence Boulevard approaching Silverleaf Drive. The Mercury Villager crossed the southbound lanes of South Independence Boulevard, but continued to the northbound lanes where it was hit by the school bus.

“The collision caused the Mercury Villager to impact the front end of a 1996 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which was stopped at the stop sign on Silverleaf Drive,” the police press release stated.

The Mercury Villager then slid through a metal fence around a retention pond where it then came to final rest. The school bus hit a Dominion Power Light Pole, knocking it down before it came to rest in the northbound lanes of South Independence Boulevard.

The driver and passenger of the Mercury Villager were taken by ambulance to a local hospital where the passenger later died, the press release stated. He was identified as Chu Tze Sawyer, 72, of Norfolk. The driver was listed in serious condition but has since been downgraded to stable condition.

The bus driver and an adult passenger on the school bus were evaluated at a local hospital but later released. The driver of the 1996 Ford F-150 complained of minor injuries but was not treated.

My thoughts are with the family of Mr. Sawyer at this tragic time. If you are a passenger in a vehicle, you seldom have control over how the vehicle is driven. Often the family of a passenger has grounds to make a wrongful death claim against the insurance policy of the driver, or another at-fault driver. Making a claim is the last thing many families want to consider after bereavement. The sad reality is death can be very costly. Our personal injury lawyers have written about what you can claim for in a wrongful death case in Virginia. Call Cooper Hurley for a free consultation at 757.455.007.