30 Injured in School Bus Crash : Operator of Truck That Rammed Vehicle Suspected of Drinking

A suspected drunk driver crashed a six-ton meat truck into the rear of a school bus Tuesday on the Ventura Freeway in Studio City, injuring 30 people, including 27 elementary school students, authorities said.

All of the injuries were minor. The students, a teacher’s aide and the bus driver were treated and released from six area hospitals after the 7:25 a.m. crash, which brought screams of panic from children who were “thrown around in the bus quite a bit,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Inspector Ed Reed.

“I was scared,” said 10-year-old Meline Aridjian, a fifth-grader who was slightly injured. “They were all screaming,” she said of her fellow students. “I was crying.”

The victims were treated at hospital emergency rooms for bruises, cuts and neck and back strains. Paramedics at the crash site had put them in neck braces and strapped them onto back boards as a precaution before they were loaded into ambulances.

The driver of the refrigerated meat truck was identified by authorities as Lorenzo Perez, 27, of Lynwood. He was treated for slight injuries at the Van Nuys Jail, where he was taken after being arrested for investigation of felony drunk driving, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Officer Dave Grajeda said Perez told investigators he had been drinking the night before the accident, but they said they smelled alcohol on his breath and he was arrested. Investigators took a blood sample from Perez, but the tests were not complete, Grajeda said.

Authorities said the accident occurred as the Los Angeles Unified School District bus was carrying 47 first- through fifth-grade students from Hollywood and the mid-Wilshire district to Woodland Hills, where they attend Serrania Avenue Elementary School.

Grajeda said the westbound bus was traveling about 50 m.p.h. just west of the Hollywood Freeway interchange when a car driven by Maria Morena Menjivar, 33, of North Hollywood, made a lane change in front of it and then spun out of control for an unknown reason.

“This caused the bus to brake abruptly,” Grajeda said. “The meat truck then struck the school bus.”

Grajeda said it was unknown if Perez attempted to stop the truck before it struck the bus. The impact pushed the bus into Menjivar’s car, but she was not injured. The accident is still under investigation, and Menjivar was not cited, Grajeda said.

Bus driver Derrick Ford, 22, of Palmdale, said the crash came without warning and was accompanied by the screams from frightened children.

“It was damned scary,” said Ford, a district bus driver for four years. “The truck hit us real hard.”

The accident, which occurred at the start of the morning commute on the busy freeway, forced the closure of two westbound lanes for more than two hours.

Traffic was tied up both east and west and through the Cahuenga Pass to Hollywood and downtown. The westbound lanes of the Ventura Freeway were backed up eight miles into Glendale.

Paramedics Chief Alan Cowen said 10 paramedics went to the scene in four rescue ambulances and seven additional ambulances were called from private companies. The paramedics set up a triage station on the freeway shoulder where the victims were examined before being placed in ambulances.

While waiting for the ambulance rides, the children were quiet and cooperative with paramedics. One small boy wore a firefighter’s helmet borrowed from a paramedic.

An additional injury occurred an hour afterward when tow truck operator Eric Hagenow was removing the shattered rear window so the bus could be safely towed. When the window came loose, Hagenow lost his balance and fell to the ground on his back. He was taken to North Hollywood Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Times staff writer Richard Lee Colvin contributed to this report.

DRIVING LESSONS

L.A. school bus drivers transport 80,000 pupils a day in 1,500 buses during peak traffic hours. Page 4