The State - News from April 8, 1988

The driver of a bus blamed in last week’s chain-reaction crash on the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge was not driving recklessly, the California Highway Patrol determined. Officer Bruce Marble said the investigation into the March 29 mishap, in which 32 people were injured, showed that driver Charles Ford, 60, of Oakland, should only be cited for tailgating. Ford and another bus driver were taking a group of junior high school students to Modesto when a car with a flat tire stopped on the bridge. The other driver stopped his bus in time. But Ford, who was following, was unable to stop before slamming into the lead bus. Marble said the CHP will recommend to the Alameda County district attorney’s office that Ford be fined $108 and be charged with one “point” against his driving record.