Another Firm Tells of Firing Tour Bus Driver

The driver of a tour bus that plunged into an icy river in the eastern Sierra, killing at least 18 elderly passengers, was fired last year by another excursion company after authorities stopped his loaded bus and arrested him for driving with a suspended license and failing to respond to traffic warrants, the man’s former employer said Sunday.

Meanwhile, a California Highway Patrol officer probing Friday’s crash told The Times that the driver, Ernst A. Klimeck, 47, who was cited for speeding at least four times in the past 2 1/2 years, may have maintained two driver’s licenses under slightly different names.

“We’re investigating that possibility,” said Officer E. Aviles, who is working out of a temporary CHP command post in rural Bridgeport, Calif., south of the crash site.

Return Leg of Tour

The chartered bus carried 40 Santa Monica residents, mostly women in their 60s, 70s and 80s, and was returning from a four-day excursion to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Reno when it skidded across U.S. 395 north of Yosemite National Park, flipped over and plunged into the Walker River. Investigators have said that the bus, owned by Starline Sightseeing Tours of Hollywood, may have been traveling faster than the posted speed limit.

Authorities so far have identified 15 of the 18 bodies pulled from the river and wreckage, a spokeswoman for the Mono County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday. However, the name of one victim was withheld until relatives could be notified.

Three of the 22 who were injured, including Klimeck, have been released from hospitals in Nevada and California. One of the 19 still hospitalized is in critical condition. One passenger is not accounted for and is presumed dead, officials said Sunday.

During his two-day stay at the Washoe Medical Center in Reno, Klimeck, whose last known address was in Glendale, refused to discuss the accident with reporters. However, he was interviewed at least three times by investigators for the CHP, a spokesman said.

No charges have been filed in connection with the accident.

Dismissal Recalled

A Los Angeles-area excursion company that had employed Klimeck for about five months fired him in March, 1985, after his tour bus was stopped by CHP officers on U.S. 395 near Independence, on the return leg of a weekend ski trip to Mammoth Lakes, a company official said.

“The man was on a trip to Mammoth and was pulled off by the CHP for warrants and for speeding,” said Debra R. Mintz, 24, general manager of Lounge Car Tours Inc. of Culver City. She said Klimeck was taken into custody, leaving the busload of skiers temporarily stranded.

“It is automatically grounds for termination,” Mintz said. “Any driver who goes out (on a trip) with warrants on his license, he knows he could be taken into custody and he’s jeopardizing the charter,” Mintz said.

When Klimeck was hired by Lounge Car Tours on Oct. 8, 1984, he presented company officials with a driver’s license listing his name as Ernst August Klimeck and his date of birth as June 12, 1938, Mintz said.

Following standard practice, she said, company officials checked Klimeck’s driving record with the California Department of Motor Vehicles and were told it was unblemished.

Difference in Names

However, authorities said Saturday that DMV records show that an Ernest A. Klimeck, who also has a birth date of June 12, 1938, had been cited twice for speeding and once for driving an unregistered auto in the eight months before Ernst Klimeck was hired by Lounge Car Tours.

The records also indicate that:

- Ernest Klimeck’s license to drive was suspended on Sept. 6, 1984, one month before Ernst Klimeck presented a valid license to Lounge Car Tours. Ernest Klimeck’s license was renewed on June 11, 1985.

- Ernest Klimeck was cited for speeding and driving with a suspended license on March 10, 1985, the same day that Lounge Car Tours driver Ernst Klimeck was stopped while driving back from Mammoth Lakes.

- At least two warrants were issued for Ernest Klimeck’s arrest after he failed to appear in court to answer one of the speeding citations, which involved a commercial bus, and the unregistered vehicle charge.

Aviles, the CHP investigator, said Sunday that he could not comment on whether authorities have identified separate driver’s licenses issued in the names of Ernest and Ernst Klimeck. If such licenses had been issued, Aviles said, authorities would not discount the possibility that it could have been the result of a clerical error.

Starline officials on Saturday defended their decisions to hire Klimeck and to retain him despite a December, 1985, speeding ticket issued to him while driving a Starline bus.

Found to Be Competent

Michael E. Neustadt, director of tour operators for Starline, said that after an internal investigation, Klimeck was “found to be a safe and competent driver.”

Neustadt could not be reached Sunday.

Two Starline drivers at work in the company’s Santa Fe Springs maintenance yard on Sunday said they believed Klimeck is a safe driver.

“Ernest is a very experienced driver in the mountains,” said Tony Morsy, 48, of Downey. “The average motorist has speeding tickets, too.”

Tony Cordon, 35, of Hollywood, added: “Look at the mileage we put on. We usually drive between 60,000 and 70,000 miles a year.”

Despite Lounge Car Tours’ decision to fire Klimeck for driving with outstanding warrants, “It’s very difficult to make a decision if a driver is OK or not, as far as the records go,” said Mintz, the company’s general manager.

“The guidelines set forth to use are not clear-cut as to what is too many violations, what is too many tickets, what is too many accidents. . . . It’s just not a clear-cut procedure.”

Report Awaited

Officials of the CHP and the National Transportation Safety Board, which are both investigating the accident, have said that preliminary conclusions regarding its cause may be released this week. However, the officials said that it could be months before the inquiry is completed.

In Santa Monica Sunday, at what was to have been a celebration of the 87th anniversary of the First Christian Church, the congregation instead remembered two members lost in the accident and prayed for the recovery of a third.

“We have a special burden in our hearts as we come together,” said the Rev. Charles Elswick.

Many of those injured or killed in the accident were residents of Santa Monica Christian Towers, a 13-story senior citizens’ housing facility at Wilshire Boulevard and 6th Street.

Elswick noted that it was the First Christian Church that in the 1960s initiated the federal project that created the Christian Towers. He called for a silent moment of prayer.

“Particularly the last 48 hours have been hard on the congregation,” he said. “I don’t think that we could have made it . . . were it not knowing we are in the love and prayers of so many people.”

Times staff writers Jill Stewart in Los Angeles and Mark A. Stein in Reno contributed to this report.