Car, School Bus Crash--20 Injured
A passenger vehicle struck a school bus Tuesday at a desert intersection, and 19 children aboard the bus suffered minor injuries, authorities said.
Sandy Hannon of the California Highway Patrol’s high desert office here said the crash occurred when the school bus turned in front of the other vehicle.
The 8:15 a.m. accident occurred at a dangerous intersection, where flashing lights were recently added to alert motorists to the four-way stop, Hannon said. The speed of both vehicles was described as slow.
In addition to bus driver Penny Gilstrap, who was uninjured, there were 56 students aboard the bus ranging in age from 5 to 12, said John Dempsey, assistant superintendent of the Morongo Unified School District.
They were headed for Oasis Elementary School, a half-mile from the crash site and about 150 miles east of Los Angeles.
The 19 injured students, mostly complaining of bruises and scrapes, were taken by ambulances to Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree and the nearby Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center base hospital. All were treated and released.
Dempsey said another bus carried the uninjured students to school.
The driver of the other vehicle, Marine Corps Sgt. David Brown, 25, of Oregon City, Ore., was treated for a broken arm and cuts.
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