A Beltsville bus driver started work at 4:30 a.m. Saturday to transport people to two airports.
But the day ended tragically after David A. Audet, 49, apparently suffered a medical emergency and was killed when his head smashed into a bridge support, said Sgt. Terry Licklider, a Virginia State Police spokesman.
He was seen by witnesses hanging out the driver?s side window when his bus veered onto the shoulder of Interstate 395 at the Shirlington overpass, police said.
No passengers were on the bus, owned by Gunther Charters of Hanover.
Audet, who had worked at the company for 18 months, had lived with his father in Laurel until moving into his own place in Beltsville a few days earlier, said George Smith, a Gunther Charters employee.
“He was a talkative guy, always joking,” he said.
Audet picked up a group of people at a Rockville hotel and drove them to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Smith said.
He was then supposed to pick up a group in Alexandria and take them to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Smith said.
Audet stopped by the company?s dispatch office near the airport for a few minutes between pickups to chat and have a mirror adjusted, he said.
“He got in his bus, waved at me, and he pulled off,” Smith said.
Smith said he learned from police at about 8 a.m. that a company driver had been killed.
The bus continued down the road for more than half a mile before Officer Michael Watson and firefighter/paramedic Kyle Wright, who had been running alongside, got inside and applied the brakes.
Police did not suspect foul play, but Audet?s body was sent for an autopsy.
The southbound lanes of the highway were closed for about seven hours during the investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
