Buena Park : Youth on Bicycle Hit, Killed by OCTD Bus

An Orange County Transit District bus struck and killed a 15-year-old Buena Park youth whose bicycle veered off the curb and into its path Monday, Fullerton police said.

Witnesses said Nicolai Cozac was weaving on and off the sidewalk in the 300 block of Magnolia Street in Fullerton just after 8:30 a.m.

“He turned into and out of at least one driveway, then reversed his course,” Police Sgt. Bud Lathrop said. “But he aimed his bicycle into the street by bouncing off the curb instead of in the usual way, and drove right into the right front portion of the bus.”

Lathrop said the bus driver, Virginia Freeman, 37, braked in attempting to avoid hitting Cozac but was unsuccessful. The youth was pronounced dead on arrival at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

The No. 33 bus had just begun its run between the Fullerton Park and Ride lot and Huntington Beach, and only three passengers were on board at the time of the accident, OCTD spokesperson Joanne Curran said. Freeman and the passengers were unhurt.

Freeman, who lives in Anaheim, has been an OCTD driver for 11 years.