Family sues NJ Transit claiming negligence after man dies on ride back to NYC

By Larry Higgs, nj.com

(MCT)

The family of a man who died from a fentanyl overdose on an NJ Transit bus is suing the transportation agency and the driver, claiming the man died because the driver didn’t check his bus and drove to New York with him unconscious in the back.

Robert A. Schirripa, Jr. of Freehold, died at Mount Sinai hospital in New York on Oct. 6, 2019 after a passenger boarding the bus found him, court papers said.

He was the cousin of actor Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby ‘Bacala’ Baccalieri on the Sopranos and portrays Detective Anthony Abetemarco on Blue Bloods, said Attorney Paul da Costa, who is representing Robert A. Schrippa Jr’s parents.

The family filed the suit in Superior Court in Monmouth County on Sept. 14, alleging that Schrippa might have received immediate lifesaving medical attention sooner had the bus driver followed NJ Transit policy and checked the bus at the end of a trip in Lakewood on Oct. 5, 2019, da Costa said.

“The driver had a duty to walk the bus, would have found my client’s son passed out, would have called for help and he would have received treatment and be alive,” da Costa said. “Safety rules and procedures are only as good as the following them.”

NJ Transit declined to comment because the matter is under litigation, a spokeswoman said.

Schirripa’s father planned to pick him up at the bus stop and had been in touch with him by phone earlier in the trip.

After making a final stop in Lakewood, the bus went directly to New York to pick up passengers at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where Schirripa was found by a passenger who got on the bus there. Authorities determined the cause of death was due to a fentanyl overdose, da Costa said.

Schirripa, 40, was taking his engineers licensing exam and was returning from Manhattan on the 139 Lakewood bus that was scheduled to arrive in Freehold at 8:50 p.m. He arranged for his father to pick him up at the bus stop and called him at 8:15 p.m. to tell him he’d call 10 minutes before the bus arrived, court papers said.

“He was close to starting a new chapter in his life…he had a letter of employment offer to start (a new job) two to three weeks later,” da Costa said.

His father drove to the bus stop and when Schrippa didn’t get off the bus, he made 9 calls to his son’s cell phone between 9:19 and 10:39 p.m., the suit said. The bus arrived at Lakewood, 8 miles away at 9:22 p.m., where all passengers got off except Schirripa.

The lawsuit charged that the bus driver failed to obey section 411 of NJ Transit’s rule book that says, “operators must check for lost articles and for sleeping or intoxicated persons after each trip.” Instead, he drove the empty bus back to New York and arrived at the Port Authority Bus terminal around 11:29 p.m.

“It’s only when new passengers got on in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, that a poor soul found him unresponsive,” da Costa said.

He was taken by New York Fire Department EMS to Mt. Sinai hospital west and pronounced dead at 12:32 a.m., Oct. 6, 2019.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected].

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