Police Release Cause of Avon School Bus Crash

Police recently ruled that an Avon driver was at fault in a three-car accident on Country Club Road involving a head-on collision with a school bus on March 6.

Nikolaus Solari, 27, of Avon was cited with an infraction of failure to obey a stop sign after police say he turned left at a Stagecoach Road stop sign onto Country Club into the path of an oncoming car.

As Neelam Chauhan, 39, of Avon, was approaching the intersection in her 2007 BMW in the westbound lane, she told police that Solari pulled out in front of her at the last minute. She was not able to stop in time, according to the police report. Her car struck Solari's vehicle and deflected off of it into the stopped school bus. Driver Angela Melendez-Cedeno, 45, of Simsbury, was waiting to take a left-hand turn onto Stagecoach, police said.

Solari told police that he thought the school bus was waiting for him to turn onto Country Club Road and that he didn't see Chauhan's car coming.

The three Avon children aboard the school bus were sitting in the first two rows with their seatbelts on when police arrived.

American Medical Response paramedics examined the children and other parties because of the "severity of impact" and "airbag deployment." The collision also caused the release of vehicle fluid, police said.

The students' parents picked them up, all refusing further medical treatment. An ambulance took the bus driver to UConn Health Center for further evaluation, police said. No one else was injured.

DATTCO management responded, as well, and police notified the Avon Board of Education about the accident.

All vehicles sustained significant front-end damage and were towed, police said.