Driver pleads guilty for fatal I-90 tour bus crash

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- A tour bus driver pleaded guilty to five counts of criminally negligent homicide on Monday in connection to a deadly crash on I-90 that killed five people and injured dozens of others last August. On Aug. 22, 2025, Bin Shao lost control while driving a tour bus on I-90 near Pembroke. The bus turned over into a ditch next to the road. It was carrying 54 people in total, traveling from Niagara Falls to New York City. Shao faces one and a third to four years in prison when he is sentenced in September. "Terrible remorse for what happened in what was literally 20 seconds," Shao's attorney Daniel Lynch said. "It's going to affect him for the rest of his life." Shao was previously charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in March. According to documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board last month, Shao said a bottle of water had rolled to his foot as he was driving the bus. In the documents, Shao said he bent down to throw the bottle away and it bounced out of the trash can before he lost control of the bus. "I've described it as what some of us do when we drive, you pick something up ... he was just trying to get a taste of water in the middle of August," Lynch said. "I don't know what else to say in terms of what caused it except that it's just a tremendous tragedy." Genesee County District Attorney Kevin Finnell said there was no plea from the manslaughter charges because that would have meant Shao "intentionally disregarded" the lives of the passengers. Criminally negligent homicide means that Shao took responsibility for the mistake that caused the crash. "I'm satisfied that he took responsibility," Finnell said. "Suffering the consequence when he comes back for sentencing should bring [the families] some closure."