RTD Bus Hits Freeway Curb, Overturns; 30 Hurt

More than 30 people were injured Thursday afternoon when a Southern California Rapid Transit District bus with a rookie driver at the wheel struck a curb on the northbound Hollywood Freeway and overturned, blocking all four lanes.

Two of those injured were reported in critical condition and were taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, along with a third victim. At least five others were said by Fire Department paramedics to be in serious condition.

Some of the passengers escaped through roof vents and an emergency window. Some of them told of screams and panic and of people “flying around” inside the bus as it overturned and then skidded along the freeway.

City Fire Department spokesman Jim Williamson said all 31 people on the bus were treated. Six of the injured were taken by ambulance to Queen of Angels Hospital, 12 to Kaiser Sunset, six to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and four others to Glendale Memorial.

The 3:40 p.m. accident at Western Avenue brought traffic to a halt for miles and jammed Hollywood area surface streets as California Highway Patrol officers diverted motorists.

RTD spokesmen said driver Shirley Riojas, who recently completed her training and was being broken in on a new route by veteran driver Raul Lewenberg, was en route from downtown Los Angeles to Northridge when she apparently attempted too late to turn into the loading turnout at Western Avenue.

The tires of the bus struck the curb and the big vehicle flipped across the island onto its side across the entire northbound freeway, smashing the center divider fence.

It happened too quickly for the instructor to help her, RTD spokesman Ray Garcia said. He estimated the bus’s speed at about 35 m.p.h.

Riojas and Lewenberg were among the injured. She had several lesions on her leg. His injuries were minor.

One motorist, Fran Jordan, told reporters at the scene that the bus was “going really fast . . . too fast.” She said the bus “went over sideways and just slid right across the road.”

Riojas told an interviewer that she was uncertain whether she was supposed to make a Western Avenue stop, but that she thought she was only going about 40 m.p.h. when “the bus hit the curb and I went over to the left.”

Bus passenger Robert Valladares, 23, of Sunland, said that when the bus hit the curb, “I knew the bus wasn’t going to stay on its four wheels. I just hung onto my seat as tight as I could. . . . When I saw we were sliding, that’s when I closed my eyes. Everybody started flying around the bus.”

When he opened his eyes, Valladares said, “there was all this screaming.” He said he saw one woman passenger with her ankle “twisted around. . . . You could see it was broken. It was wild in there.”

And, he said, “There was this guy by the driver. I think he broke his back. He couldn’t move his legs. This lady lost about three front teeth and her face was all messed up, too.”

Valladares was only slightly injured and went home without hospital treatment.

RTD’s Jager said the company would not be able to tell exactly what happened until investigators are able to talk to everyone involved.

Paramedics treated many of the injured on blankets laid out in the freeway lanes while CHP officers struggled to get homebound traffic onto surface streets. The bus lay on its side with the windshield gone and windows shattered. An emergency window had been shoved open.

Skid marks showed that the bus slid about 50 feet along the freeway after it struck the curb.