The bus driver who plowed into slowing traffic on Interstate 95 in Virginia last week, killing five people including a family of four on their way to a wedding, is now facing driving while intoxicated and unlicensed vehicle operation charges on top of five counts of involuntary manslaughter — a deepening legal catastrophe that is reigniting the national debate over commercial driver licensing standards.
Jing Sheng Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, was driving a motorcoach from New York to North Carolina in the early hours of May 30 when his bus slammed into a line of vehicles that had slowed for a construction zone on I-95 in Stafford County, roughly 45 miles south of Washington, D.C. The chain-reaction crash involved at least eight vehicles, killed five Massachusetts residents, and sent 44 others to the hospital. DHS confirmed this week that Dong was behind the wheel without a valid license and, according to investigators, was intoxicated at the time. He also subsequently refused to take an English proficiency test when asked by federal officials.
"Unacceptable. This is exactly why we are holding states accountable, enforcing the rules of the road, and cracking down on drivers who can't speak English. If you can't be properly trained, read our road signs, or communicate with law enforcement, you have no business driving a bus." — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
The victims include a Greenfield, Massachusetts, family of four — among them a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy — and a 25-year-old woman from Worcester. Dong obtained his commercial driver's license from New York in 2024 despite not speaking English, a fact that has drawn fierce criticism from officials demanding to know how such a credential was ever issued. The Trump administration announced it is reviewing New York licensing records, driver training documentation, and Dong's full history. Federal investigators were also seen at a location connected to E&P Travel Inc., the North Carolina-based bus operator.
Court records show Dong has a prior pattern of dangerous behavior behind the wheel. He was convicted of speeding in Virginia in late 2024 and was cited in Maryland in March for driving a motorcoach 22 miles per hour over the posted limit. He also has a pending trespassing case in a separate Virginia county. Despite this history, he was somehow still operating a bus full of passengers on a major interstate. Dong was naturalized under the Obama administration in 2012.
Federal regulations require commercial drivers to demonstrate English language proficiency — a rule the Trump administration has moved to enforce more aggressively. Thousands of drivers have already been placed out of service for failing to meet the standard. The NTSB is conducting an independent investigation into the crash, which remains one of the deadliest highway accidents in recent memory.
The mounting charges against Dong paint a picture of systematic failure: a man who couldn't speak English, had no valid license, had prior speeding violations, and may have been drunk — yet was nonetheless entrusted with a bus full of passengers. The five people who never made it to that wedding deserved better from a licensing system that was supposed to protect the public. Americans are right to demand accountability, not just from Dong, but from every state and agency that allowed this to happen.