Driver of bus that caught fire pleads not guilty

A Malden man who drove a New York-to-Boston bus that burst into flames on the Massachusetts Turnpike last month pleaded not guilty yesterday to negligence, after he allegedly continued to drive with smoke filling the bus.

Shitong Ou, 40, was driving a Travel Pack bus full of passengers eastbound on the turnpike on March 18 when he allegedly stopped twice, in Weston and Newton, because of an odor of smoke, said David Procopio, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. Both times, Ou resumed driving, Procopio said.

''Evidence suggests that Ou continued to drive even after smoke became noticeable in the bus," Procopio said.

After the two stops, Ou allegedly pulled into the breakdown lane about 2 a.m., just before the tollbooths in Allston-Brighton. Ou then hurriedly evacuated everyone from the bus seconds before it burst into flames and was destroyed, Procopio said. Neither Ou nor his passengers were injured. A State Police trooper flagged down a Greyhound bus, which took some stranded passengers to South Station, where the $15 one-way trip from New York was to end.

State Police sought a complaint charging Ou with negligent operation and a motor vehicle equipment violation charge, for which he was arraigned yesterday in Brighton District Court, Procopio said. Ou was ordered yesterday to return to court May 18 for a pretrial hearing and released on personal recognizance.

Jason Chung, manager of Chinatown's Kristine Travel and Tour Inc., the company for which Ou was driving, was away in Florida and not available for comment yesterday.

The day after the incident, Chung said in an interview that Ou had stopped only once during the trip from New York. Chung said that Ou wrote in a report that he noticed sparks coming from the engine while driving between exits 17 and 18 on the turnpike. Ou wrote that he pulled over, ordered passengers off, and tried unsuccessfully to put the fire out with an extinguisher, Chung said.

''We are run safely," Chung said. Chung also said the $300,000 bus probably caught fire because of mechanical problems in the rear-mounted engine.

Silvia Illia of Cambridge, a passenger on the bus, said a tire seemed to blow out during the first stop and that Ou then began driving slowly while speaking in Chinese on a walkie-talkie. Illia said that after Ou stopped a second time to inspect the bus, he resumed driving at a higher speed.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Illia said that she observed a small fire on the bus as Ou was telling passengers to exit, and began snapping pictures of the bus as it ignited.

''I got a sequence of the small little flames to the whole thing going up," she said. ''I just thought it was incredible. I couldn't believe what was going on. I said, 'I need this to be documented.' "

She lauded the decision to charge Ou. ''I think it is great because he definitely had a lot to do with what happened. I hope they make a responsible move and never let this happen again. . . . We were lucky, we were honestly lucky."

Illia said that the day after the trip, she went to the bus terminal to pick up a friend coming in from New York and saw Ou preparing to drive another bus.

''He was driving the next day," Illia said. ''I thought that was crazy."

Records show Ou was charged with five moving violations while driving a bus last year. Ou had his commercial driver's license suspended for 60 days last year after he was ticketed for going at least 15 miles over the speed limit in Connecticut, Registry of Motor Vehicle records show.

Neither Ou nor his lawyer were available yesterday for comment.