Easton School District bus driver fatally pinned by own car in parking lot

PALMER TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- A tragic accident in a school parking lot killed a Lehigh Valley bus driver.

Investigators say 61-year-old Bonny Jean Novack was just wrapping up her shift Tuesday night working as a bus driver for the Easton Area school District.

She was apparently trying to start up her late-model Volkswagen which coworkers say she was having problems with.

Palmer Township police say Novack seems to have left the vehicle in neutral when, for some reason, she exited the car.

The problem was that she did so on a section of the parking lot that is sloped outside Tracy Elementary.

"The vehicle was in neutral. It appears the vehicle was coasting through the lot and the victim was trying to stop the vehicle in the front of the hood which then made her fall underneath," Detective Jim Alercia of the Palmer Township Police Department said.

Palmer Township police officials say it seems Novak slipped while trying to stop her car because it was her head that got caught between her own vehicle and a parked car.

Her body was discovered several minutes later by a fellow school employee.

School district officials decided to open on a two hour delay Wednesday in honor of Novack's memory.

Easton Area School District Assistant to the Superintendent Alyssa Emili says the lovely woman affectionately known as BJ will be missed.

"She had a very strong worth ethic and somebody who was always willing to step up and take on runs in order to support our students," Emili said.