Driver Killed After Hitting Bus Identified

A woman who was killed after she allegedly ran a red light and struck an out-of-service OCTD bus in Santa Ana has been identified as Linda Dianna Kinwald, 39, of Fountain Valley, authorities said Friday.

Witnesses said Kinwald was westbound on Sunflower Avenue in her 1982 Chrysler coupe about 10 p.m. Thursday when she ran the light at Harbor Boulevard. The bus dragged the car and a signal light pole with it into the southbound lanes of Harbor Boulevard, shattering an Orange County Transit District bus shelter. The coroner’s office said Kinwald died instantly.

The bus driver, 45-year-old Gloria Novotny of Anaheim, was not injured in the accident, and there were no passengers aboard the bus.

Novotny, who has been driving for OCTD for 14 years, “is one of the best drivers in the district,” OCTD spokeswoman Joanne Curran said. She added that Novotny was going to receive an award from the transit district for her safe driving record. The Department of Motor Vehicles said Novotny has a clean driving record.

Services have not been scheduled for Kinwald, the mother of two children, Sally, 12, and Brian, 15.

Kinwald, who worked for Lorimar Home Video in Culver City, is also survived by her mother, Mardell Frazier of Port Angeles, Wash.; sisters Bobbie Foye, 41, of Washington state, Mary Johns, 34, of San Bernardino, Kathy Howell, 30, of California, Terrie Hibbard, 31, of Washington, and her brother, Thomas Greene, 38, also of Washington.