Bus Driver Charged in Death of Trapped Girl, 3

A Montebello bus driver was charged Thursday with vehicular manslaughter in connection with the death of a 3-year-old girl who was caught in the doors of a municipal bus and dragged along the street.

George C. Schacht was charged with two misdemeanor counts, each punishable by up to one year in jail, said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. George Knoke. Schacht will be arraigned Wednesday in Municipal Court.

“The driver was negligent in starting from the curb when he should have known there was a problem with a passenger exiting the rear door,” Knoke said.

“We feel any kind of criminal prosecution is unjustified in the accident,” said Richard Torres, Montebello director of transportation.

Schacht has driven for Montebello for nine years and is on voluntary, unpaid leave pending the outcome of the case, said Richard Torres, Montebello director of transportation and maintenance.

Sylvia de Luna fell into a coma after the May 5 accident and died of multiple injuries 10 days later. The accident occurred shortly after Sylvia; her grandmother, Rosalie de Luna, and a neighbor’s child boarded the bus near the family’s Montebello home. The grandmother was on her way to make a mortgage payment, said attorney Miguel F. Garcia, who has filed a civil suit on behalf of Sylvia’s family.

The bus arrived at a stop on Whittier Boulevard, near Oakford Drive in East Los Angeles, and passengers began getting off. Rosalie de Luna stepped out the rear door with her neighbor’s 2-year-old child in her arms. Sylvia stood on the bottom step holding her grandmother’s hand, waiting to be helped off the bus, Garcia said.

A California Highway Patrol accident report said the bus door closed on Sylvia’s leg as she tried to step onto the sidewalk and the bus dragged her along the ground for 25 feet.

Schacht told the investigating officer that he heard people banging frantically on the side of the bus but he thought that they were would-be passengers trying to get him to stop so they could belatedly board, the report said.

Garcia filed a Superior Court lawsuit in August seeking unspecified damages from Montebello and $5 million in punitive damages from Schacht.