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14 Injured as Stalled Tour Bus Rolls Into Ditch

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Times Staff Writer

Fourteen people were injured after a tour bus in which they were riding stalled near Palmdale, then rolled backward into a ditch when the driver tried to move it out of a traffic lane, the California Highway Patrol reported Monday.

The accident occurred at 9:30 p.m. Sunday when the bus owned by Valley Travel of Van Nuys stalled while returning to the San Fernando Valley from a trip to Las Vegas, said Officer Gil Torres. The injuries were mostly minor, with the most serious being a broken arm.

The bus, driven by Barbara J. Loving, 45, of Agua Dulce and carrying 40 senior citizens from the Valley, headed west off Pearblossom Highway onto the Antelope Valley Freeway and stalled while heading up the transition road’s incline, Torres said.

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Loving tried to pull the bus onto the shoulder but the rear left corner remained in the traffic lane, officers said.

After CHP officers arrived, Loving tried to roll the bus backward out of the lane. It went backward 100 feet before going off the shoulder and dropping six feet down an embankment into a ditch, officials said.

“The bus driver said to us, ‘I have to move the bus so everybody hold tight,’ ” said Helen Schiro, 76, of North Hollywood, who was on the bus. “It kept going back and crashed down into the ditch. All our seats collapsed.”

The bus remained upright but the jolt left 14 passengers injured. Officials said 11 were treated at Palmdale Hospital Medical Center and Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster. No one was cited and the accident remained under investigation.

A spokesman for Valley Travel, who would not give his name, said Loving rolled the bus backward at the order of CHP officers who wanted the road cleared. The spokesman said the brakes would not have been operable because the engine, which provides air for the brakes, was stalled.

Sgt. Chuck Marek, who was the accident scene supervisor, said officers told Loving that the bus needed to be moved and offered to call a tow truck, which Loving refused. Marek said Loving then apparently decided to let the bus roll backward out of the traffic lane.

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Marek said the bus brakes should have locked and left the bus unmovable if there was not enough air to operate them. He said investigators had not determined whether the accident was caused by driver error or mechanical failure.

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