Tour Bus Accident In Berlin

The Dispatch
Tour Bus Accident In Berlin
Shawn J. Soper
News Editor
BERLIN -- A little mid-afternoon drama unfolded on Tuesday afternoon in September in Berlin when a large tour bus attempting to pull into the municipal parking lot off Main Street struck a building overhang or canopy, blowing out two of the vehicle’s large windows.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a large Star Travel and Tours bus attempted to make a right turn into the municipal parking lot on Main Street when the vehicle struck an overhanging canopy on the red brick building adjacent to the lot. The collision caused two of the bus’s large windows to blow out, showering small cubes of broken glass onto the sidewalk and roadway and inside the vehicle. No injuries were reported.
With the bus wedged halfway into the parking lot, the Berlin Fire Department and Police Department closed a portion of Main Street for about a half an hour. The occupants of the bus, which had New York license tags, crowded in the municipal parking lot while fire department officials and police along with the bus driver decided on the best course of action to remove the damaged bus.
The tourists were advised to go out and around and enjoy all Berlin has to offer while an alternative option could be decided upon. A few minutes later, dozens of the bus’s occupants were seen streaming into Rayne’s Reef restaurant, likely causing an immediate rush on an otherwise quiet Tuesday afternoon.
Berlin Fire Department officials broke out some of the larger pieces of jagged glass from the broken bus windows and a short time later, the driver was able to back the vehicle out onto Main Street. Once the bus was free of the overhanging canopy, it continued down Main Street to the Berlin Fire Company headquarters parking lot. Again, no injuries were reported, but it is uncertain whether the windows would be repaired or an alternative means of transportation would be provided for the dozens of tourists.