The driver of a commercial tour bus involved in a deadly multi-vehicle collision on Interstate 95 in Virginia has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, Virginia State Police confirmed Saturday. Jing S Dong faces two felony counts, with additional charges pending as authorities continue to examine Friday’s crash. Dong, who sustained injuries during the collision, was arrested and served with felony warrants while receiving treatment at a local hospital.
The charges mark the first formal legal action in a crash that investigators attribute to high-speed travel through an active construction work zone. The incident has intensified scrutiny of commercial passenger vehicle operations on heavily trafficked eastern corridors, where routine maintenance closures and dense traffic create volatile conditions for large vehicles.
The sequence of events began Friday morning when the bus, operated by E&P Travel, “failed to slow for traffic,” according to the Virginia State Police. The vehicle struck a Chevrolet Suburban, which then plowed into several other cars and ignited one of the vehicles on fire. The impact produced “a chain reaction crash” that involved “at least eight vehicles,” prosecutor Eric Olsen said. Investigators have gathered sufficient evidence to suggest Dong was driving in a “criminally negligent manner,” Olsen added.
Five people died in the collision. Four of the victims were members of the Doncev family from Greenfield, Massachusetts, who were traveling to South Carolina to attend a wedding. Identified by relatives and local media, the victims were Dmitri Doncev, his wife Ecaterina, their 13-year-old daughter Emily, and 7-year-old son Mark. Their vehicle was consumed by fire following the initial impact. The fifth victim, 25-year-old Priscilla Mafalda, was traveling in the Suburban that was first struck by the bus.
Emergency responders transported roughly 44 people to area hospitals following the collision. Police reported that three of the injured remain in critical condition, while medical staff at regional facilities have been treating the remaining patients for varying degrees of trauma.
Each count of involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Olsen said the investigation is ongoing, and authorities are continuing to evaluate crash data and witness accounts to determine if additional charges will be filed. Dong remained in police custody at the hospital as of Saturday afternoon.