SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2007

School Bus Monitor Hit, Killed by TUSD Truck
Driver Also Hit Pedestrian in October
Tucson, Arizona
February 6, 2007

A TUSD bus monitor was hit and killed by a truck driven by a fellow school district employee Tuesday morning as she crossed the street, officials said.

Rosario Solis, 43, was returning to the Tucson Unified School District's transportation facility near Kino Parkway and Broadway when she was struck by the TUSD truck, said Tucson Police Department Sgt. Greg Mammana.

The driver, 53-year-old Benjamin Nevarez, a TUSD mechanic, has not been cited pending the outcome of the investigation, said Mammana.

Solis and two other people were walking south across East 15th Street about 9:15 a.m. when Solis was hit by a northbound truck as it left the transportation facility and turned left onto 15th Street, Mammana said.

Solis and the others were in an unmarked crosswalk at South Norris Avenue when the accident occurred.

Solis -- who has worked at the district since January 2000 -- was transported to University Medical Center and pronounced dead at 9:48 a.m., Mammana said.

A bus driver, Trini Duarte, said she was with Solis when she was hit. She said she saw the fleet maintenance truck coming toward them as they crossed and she and the other pedestrian were able to jump out of the way.

When Duarte turned around she said she saw Solis lying in front of the truck.
Mammana said just before the accident Nevarez yielded to an eastbound bus at a four-way stop at the intersection of 15th Street and Norris Avenue then turned left in front a vehicle in the southbound lane of Norris.

He reportedly did not see the pedestrians, but early investigation revealed that nothing at the intersection would have blocked his view, Mammana said.

"There's no indication that he shouldn't have seen them," he said.

Nevarez will be subject to a mandatory drug test -- as are all TUSD employees when they get in an accident with a district vehicle -- said TUSD spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander.
He's on paid leave while the Tucson Police Department conducts its investigation, Lander said. The school district will also conduct its own investigation.

"It will be an internal decision as to whether or not he will be driving or doing some other job," Lander said.

This is the second time in the past few months Nevarez has hit a pedestrian while driving a district vehicle, Lander said.

On Oct. 20, Nevarez pulled into a parking spot at Johnson Primary School, 6060 S. Joseph Ave., when a car pulled up behind him to drop a child off at school, Lander said.

Nevarez backed his car out of the parking spot, and as the child walked behind his car she was pressed between the two vehicles, Lander said. She did not suffer serious injuries.
After the incident, district officials met several times to address safety issues at Johnson Primary School's parking lot, Lander said.

Nevarez passed a drug and alcohol screening, his doctor determined he was fit to drive and he returned to work, Lander said.

By Dale Quinn
Arizona Daily Star

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