Preliminary Hearing Pushed Back for Driver in Deadly Evans City Bus-Train Crash

A preliminary hearing has been pushed back for the driver of a Butler Area Rural Transit bus that was hit by a train as it was crossing the railroad tracks in Evans City.

Frank B. Schaffner, 60, of Butler Township, is facing vehicular homicide charges in the April 26 collision that left two elderly people dead.

A preliminary hearing was slated to take place Tuesday, June 24 before District Judge Wayne D. Seibel in Evans City. It has been rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 30. 

According to the criminal complaint filed by Evans City Police, Schaffner did not stop at the Maple Avenue crossing, despite being alerted to the oncoming train by passengers.

Video from the bus camera shows Schaffner, who was wearing dark sunglasses on the foggy morning, did not look left or right before driving over the tracks, which are not protected by crossing gates.

“On the video, you can hear the horns from the train rapidly approaching,” Evans City police Chief Joseph McCombs wrote in the complaint. “Some passengers visibly start to prepare for impact. Schaffner begins to look to his left as the train begins side impact to all passengers seated behind him. The horns on the train are sounding as the train impacts the bus.”

The bus was carrying 10 elderly and mentally challenged people who ranged in age from 26 to 92.

Claudette Miller, 91, of Callery and John Burkett, 88, of Zelienople, both died of injuries resulting from the crash. The eight other people on the bus were taken to area hospitals to be treated for injuries.  

After the train struck the white mini-bus broadside, spinning it around, Schaffner, who was treated for minor injuries and released from Butler Hospital the same day, can be heard on the video saying, "Oh my God, there is no (expletive) railroad crossing there! Are you guys all right?"

He then called 911.

Schaffner is charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle, 10 counts of assault by vehicle, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, 10 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of failure to stop at a railroad crossing, according to court documents.

Schaffner’s attorney, Michael Pawk, has said his client told him he did not stop the bus on the tracks and that he was deeply upset by the crash.

“He feels badly for everyone that was injured and the people that have passed,” Pawk told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last month. “That's a heavy burden on someone.”