1 dead, 30 hurt in NY bus, tractor-trailer crash

July 22, 2011 at 2:33p.m.

WATERLOO, N.Y. (AP) — A quick-thinking soldier on leave is being credited with helping rescue passengers from a bus that burst into flames after it was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer on a New York highway.

The driver of the truck, 59-year-old Timothy Hume of Michigan, was killed and 30 people injured.

Police say Sgt. Jacob Perkins of the 10th Mountain Division at nearby Fort Drum came was traveling behind the bus when it was hit about 1:30 a.m. He and others helped evacuate some of the 53 people aboard the bus.

Perkins had started his leave only 90 minutes earlier.

Police ticketed the bus driver, 52-year-old Rene Bisson of Welland, Ontario, for driving with a license that was suspended in New York because of speeding.