A New York City Corrections Department bus travelling through Monsey on the New York State Thruway and transporting over a dozen inmates flipped over at about 10:40 a.m. this morning.
Authorities said 16 inmates—along with the bus driver—were injured and transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern in vans with police escorts.
The accident shut the westbound Thruway for hours. While traffic lanes were re-opened near the accident scene, the Thruway was closed at Exit 12 in West Nyack until about 2 p.m.—forcing motorists to take Route 59 through West Nayck and Nanuet as an alternate route.
Helicopter footage of the accident shows the flipped bus with handcuffed prisoners wearing jumpsuits corralled against the vehicle. Firefighters and ambulance crew walk among them.
(You can see those photos here.)
State Police Sgt. Thomas Burroughs said there were no major injuries, and no other motorists on the highway were hurt. The prisoners were coming from court sessions in New York City.
"As far as I know, the inmates are all accounted for," he added.
The crash is believed to have been caused when the bus was cut off. State Police, along with Thruway officials and authorities from Rockland, responded to the crash. Rockland County officials said the incident appeared to be an accident.
