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Verlean Douglas, 67, of South Windsor, was the driver of a First Student school bus that was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck in East Hartford, around 5 a.m., Monday, June 3, said the Connecticut State Police.
The driver of the tractor-trailer that hit the back of the school bus, Norman Blair Bliss, 52, of Etters, Pennsylvania, was also killed.
According to state police, two tractor-trailers and the school bus were stopped on I-84 westbound in the center lane of three, adjacent to the connecting ramp to Route 2 westbound, when the third tractor-trailer came upon the stopped vehicles and took evasive action in an effort to avoid the stopped vehicles when he slammed into the back of the school bus.
The impact set off a chain reaction crash involving the other two stopped tractor-trailers. The tractor-trailer that hit the back of the bus, continued into the left lane, jack-knifed and caught fire, state police said.
The fire then spread to the bus and another tractor-trailer and the rear portion of the front tractor-trailer, they added.
The other two drivers were able to escape without injury.
The crash remains under investigation.
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