Passengers and witnesses to a horrific New York City crash that sheared the top off a bus headed for Manhattan’s Chinatown and killed 14 people told investigators that the driver’s account of getting clipped by a tractor-trailer didn’t match up to what they felt and saw before the vehicle slid off the road and into a sign pole.

Driver Ophadell Williams had told police that his World Wide Tours bus was hit just as it crossed the New York City line early Saturday on a trip from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut.

But passengers said Williams had already swerved at times to the right for no reason before the accident, a law-enforcement official said Sunday. The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the probe and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The bus was returning to New York’s Chinatown after a quick overnight trip to the casino. The official said that passengers said they didn’t feel anything hit them and that other motorists on the interstate highway said they didn’t see the bus get hit. The official said police spoke to the tractor-trailer driver, who said he was following the bus.

via Official: Riders say N.Y. bus crash driver swerved – USATODAY.com.