CHP Testing Car Brakes in School Van Collision

The California Highway Patrol is investigating whether the driver of a car that collided with a school van carrying a teacher and eight children had failed to stop for a red light.

CHP mechanics are scheduled this morning to examine the brakes of the 1988 Oldsmobile that was driven by Jung Sook Park, 30, of Norwalk when her car collided with the Sonshine Preschool van, CHP spokesman Lyle Whitten said.

Park was leaving the Garden Grove Freeway on Magnolia Street Monday afternoon when her car hit the side of the school van, which was traveling south. The van then overturned, hitting a delivery truck that was traveling north on Magnolia.

Park was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where she was treated for head cuts and chest pains. She told doctors there that her brakes had failed when she spotted the school van on her left and had tried to stop, Whitten said.

But witnesses reportedly told investigators that Park’s brake lights did not go on before she hit the van and that she was traveling up to 40 m.p.h. on the exit ramp.

The CHP will recommend that Park be cited for failing to wear her seat belt or require her two children to wear them, Whitten said. The children, Angie, 5, and Anni, 4, were sleeping in the back seat of the car when the accident occurred. They were listed in good condition with head cuts.

According to state records, Park had been cited for a seat-belt violation 19 months ago.

CHP officials praised the children on the school van for their calm and patience before they were taken to hospitals for observation and treatment for minor injuries.

“They follow safety procedures by having their seat belts on,” Whitten said. “They were also very quiet and not screaming or running around. And under those kinds of circumstances, that’s really something.”

The most seriously hurt was Russell Lewis of Garden Grove, who is the son of the school’s administrator, Colleen Lewis. Russell, 7, received about 300 stitches for a severe gash and compound fractures of his right arm. He underwent surgery successfully Monday, according to his mother.

Lewis said the children had just finish practicing emergency safety procedures several days ago. On Monday afternoon after the accident, Lewis rushed from Humana Hospital-Westminster, where some of the children were taken, to Medical Center of Garden Grove to comfort her own child, as well as other students and their parents.

“We always prepared for the worst. This is the nightmare of any parent, teacher or school administrator. We’re just so thankful that the worst wasn’t that bad,” she said.