SCHOOL BUS CRASH
REPORTS 2004
36 Schoolchildren
Injured When School Bus Overturns During Morning Commute
June 8, 2004
| One
minute, they were a busload of mostly inner-city San Diego students
talking, listening to CDs or reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" on their
way to another day of high-level learning at their La Jolla charter
school.
Suddenly, they became
human pinballs as their 90-passenger school bus swerved, rolled onto its
side and slammed nose-first into an embankment Tuesday morning on
Interstate 5 in Clairemont.
Thirty-six
of the 41
students on board, ranging in age from 11 to 16,
suffered minor to moderate injuries, according to the California Highway
Patrol and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. |
Paramedics and other
emergency
workers treat the students along
the shoulder of Interstate 5 |
"I held onto the seat as
long as I could. Two kids were on top of me," said one of the students,
Erica Chavez. "I saw some blood on the wall and thought it was mine."
The bus came to rest on
its left side, its windshield shoved into the embankment and its rear end
protruding into two northbound traffic lanes, south of the Genesee Avenue
off-ramp.
Students used the rear
emergency door and a pair of escape hatches built into the bus roof to climb
out of the vehicle, leaving behind backpacks, notebooks, clothing and shoes.
The CHP and San Diego fire department counted 41 students who were on board.
The children attend The
Preuss School UCSD, a public charter school on the University of California
San Diego campus for students in grades 6 through 12. about 8:35 a.m.,
the bus was traveling about 50 mph in the No. 4
lane,
about a quarter-mile south of
Genesee Avenue when the driver slammed on his brakes to avoid traffic that
had stopped in front of him, CHP Officer Mark Gregg said.
The driver, identified as
Faustino Espinoza, 50, of San Ysidro, told CHP investigators that when he
braked, the bus lurched to the right, rolled onto its left side and plowed
into the embankment.
Espinoza was not cited.
He submitted a blood sample to determine whether he was under the influence
of drugs or alcohol.
"We have no reason to
believe that was a factor in the collision," Gregg said.
The CHP said it could
take a month to determine if a mechanical defect played a role in the crash.
Ambulances took the
injured children to hospitals in La Jolla and Encinitas. Some were treated
for broken bones. Others were given CAT scans to check for internal damage.
At least three were transferred to Children's Hospital.
None of the injuries was
considered serious, the CHP said.
Ricardo Gil, an
eighth-grader, said he was talking with friends when the bus went into its
roll. He made his way out through the rear emergency exit, suffering from a
bruised back.
"Some of the students
were traumatized. Some were calling to their brothers and sisters on the
bus," he said. "I borrowed a friend's cell phone and called my mom."
Gil's mother, Marta, said
she remembered every word of that call.
"He said, 'Mom, the bus
turned over, but I'm OK. I'm going to the hospital and I want to see you."
Emergency room physicians
praised the students' demeanor when they arrived at the hospitals.
"The kids were brave, but
they were scared to death," said Dr. Brent Eastman, medical director at
Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla, where several of the injured were taken.
One student suffered a broken clavicle, Eastman said.
Traffic on I-5 and nearby
roads slowed to a crawl as emergency crews responded from across the city.
At least 10 fire engines, 19 ambulances and 40 San Diego Police Department
traffic units responded, authorities said.
San Diego police closed
access to northbound I-5 from Clairemont Drive to La Jolla Village Drive,
Sgt. Pat McClarney said. Most of the on-ramps reopened a short time later,
but traffic was diverted onto eastbound state Route 52 until about 11 a.m.,
McClarney said. All northbound lanes on I-5 reopened at 12:15 p.m., the CHP
said.
The school district had
contracted the bus from a private firm, First Student Inc., the
Cincinnati-based branch of First Group Plc, a multinational public
transportation firm based in Britain that operates buses, trains and freight
service.
First Student is one of
two companies that provide transportation for students in San Diego city
schools, district transportation director Alexandra Robinson said. The other
is Coach USA.
Espinoza had been driving
for the company for about a year, Gregg of the CHP said.
By Gregory Alan Gross and
Gil Griffin
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF
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