The Paramus community is honoring students and teachers who died in a school bus accident six years ago

Friday marks six years since a Paramus fifth-grader and teacher died in a school bus crash on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive.

The benches at Broom Park in Paramus are a tribute to 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and her teacher Jennifer Williamson.

Williamson’s brother says the location – less than a mile from East Brook Middle School – is a fitting tribute.

Doug Williamson visits this website from time to time. On anniversary day, the school honored Ms. Williamson with a screening of her favorite film, Free Willy, and her favorite musician, Rod Stewart.

Doug Williamson says he first heard about the crash on the news.

“I texted her but she didn’t text me back,” he said. “And she always wrote back straight away.”

He says the family later found out she saved the lives of some of their students.

“She laid on top of two students and acted as a human seatbelt,” Doug Williamson said. “The two students she was lying across from were uninjured.”

There were more than 40 people on that bus – including ten-year-old Miranda Vargas.

“My heart goes out to all the families – the Vargas family,” Dough Williamson said.

“There has been an outpouring of love and support for the Vargas family, which we greatly appreciated,” said attorney Bruce Nagel, who represented the Vargas family. “Losing a child is the worst tragedy for any family, and I think they struggle with it every day.”

New Jersey law now requires new school buses to have three-point lap and shoulder belts. “Miranda’s Law” was presented at the federal level.

“It breaks my heart that something like this had to happen for us to work on it,” Dough Williamson said.

The bus driver, Hudy Muldrow, now 83, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2020. He will be eligible for parole on Sunday.