The parents of 14-year-old Onynx Williams reached a $1.4 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Paterson Public Schools, K&M Transportation, and the Bergen County Special Services School District. The lawsuit itself was filed after Onynx “stepped out of a moving school bus through a rear emergency exit to her death” back in January of 2013. According to the agreement, $400,000 of the settlement will be paid by Paterson Public Schools, and about $200,000 will be paid by the Bergen County Special Services School District. The rest will largely be paid by K&M Transportation.
The parents of 14-year-old Onynx Williams reached a $1.4 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Paterson Public Schools, K&M Transportation, and the Bergen County Special Services School District. The lawsuit itself was filed after Onynx “stepped out of a moving school bus through a rear emergency exit to her death” back in January of 2013. According to the agreement, $400,000 of the settlement will be paid by Paterson Public Schools, and about $200,000 will be paid by the Bergen County Special Services School District. The rest will largely be paid by K&M Transportation.
So how did the accident happen, exactly? It all started when Onynx was “placed in the Bergen County school’s Venture Program due to her escalating history of behavior difficulties at School 18, 7, and 8.” After being classified as “emotionally disturbed” after a “10-day psychiatric hospitalization at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville,” she was enrolled in the “Bergen County program on February 27, 2012.”
The accident occurred on January 2, 2013, almost a year after Onynx was enrolled in the program. On that day, she was “being transported from the Hackensack school to her house in a 2010 Chevy minibus.” According to court documents, “three other students were on the same bus,” and one of them was from Lyndhurst. It should be noted that the K&M Transportation, contracted by the school district, was prohibited from mixing “students from other districts.”
While on the way to her home, Onynx became agitated that the drive was taking longer due to the fact that the driver, Porfirio Farfun, decided to drop the “unauthorized non-district student” off first. Frustrated with the delay, she “stood up, moved to the rear of the minibus, opened the emergency door and exited the vehicle while it was in motion, sustaining fatal injuries,” according to the lawsuit. Three days later she passed away.
Once the Williams family filed the lawsuit, an investigation was conducted to look into the matter and discovered that the “bus company was required to have two aides, but on that day, it only had one, Aida Youssef, on the bus.” Because of that, the parents of Onynx, Bobbie Jean White and Eugene Williams, accused not only K&M Transportation of negligence in their daughter’s death, but also the school district and Paterson Public Schools for not having enough aids on the bus, and for transporting a student that was never supposed to be on the bus in the first place. They believe if there wasn’t a delay that tragic day due to dropping off an unauthorized student, Onynx never would have become so agitated and wouldn’t have stepped off the bus to her death.
At the moment the settlement agreement is pending, awaiting final approval.
Sources:
Family gets $2 million in Paterson girl’s wrongful death case
Girl’s family gets $2 million settlement in New Jersey school bus death
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