An 11-year-old triplet - sixth grader Isabelle Tezsla - was killed, and her two sisters and an 11-year-old boy were critically injured in the accident. Fourteen other elementary-school students and both drivers received minor injuries.
The condition of one of the two surviving triplets was upgraded Friday from critical to stable, hospital officials said. Natalie Tezsla's condition improved at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where her sister Sophie and fellow student Jonathan Zdybel remained in critical condition. The conditions remained the same as of Saturday afternoon.
The triplets are the daughters of State Police Sgt. Anthony Tezsla, who is assigned to the State House in Trenton.
Twenty-five children in kindergarten through sixth grade were riding the township school bus to Chesterfield Elementary at 8:05 a.m. when it was struck by the truck.
The truck, belonging to Herman's Trucking of Wrightstown, was traveling on Bordentown-Chesterfield Road (County Route 528) and hit the bus on the driver's side while it was on Old York Road, said Township Police Chief Kyle Wilson. The bus was sent careering into a utility pole.
John Tieman, 66, of Beverly, drove the bus, and Michael Caporale, 38, of New Egypt, N.J., operated the truck. No charges have been filed against either driver. Both were tested to determine whether they had been under the influence, and results were pending.
According to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Caporale's license had been suspended in 2003 for reckless driving and restored in early 2004. The agency said he was "a driver in good standing."
