43 Injured in Freeway Crash Involving Truck-Trailer, 2 Buses
Forty-three people were injured, none seriously, Thursday evening when a tractor-trailer rig crashed into the back of an RTD bus on the Santa Ana Freeway and pushed it into the rear of a tour bus, authorities said.
The accident occurred in slow-moving southbound commuter traffic near Bandini Boulevard in the City of Commerce. Traffic on the freeway in both directions was stalled for nearly two hours after the accident.
Witnesses said the truck-trailer rig, loaded with apples, failed to stop and hit the bus. Twenty-two of the La Mirada Mall-bound RTD bus’s 30 passengers and 21 on the Travel Line tour bus reported injuries, Fire Capt. Gordon Pearson said. About one-third of the injured complained of neck and back pains, but none of the injuries appeared serious, he added.
Several ambulances were sent to the scene to take the injured to nearby hospitals for treatment.
California Highway Patrol officers impounded the tractor-trailer rig to investigate why it failed to stop.
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