8 Children Slightly Hurt as School Bus Stops Suddenly

Eight elementary school students suffered minor injuries Wednesday when their school bus driver braked to avoid a car that had swerved in his path on Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

The children, from Marshall Elementary School in Westminster, suffered minor cuts and bruises to the face and head, CHP spokesman Lyle Whitten said. The CHP routinely investigates school bus accidents.

The accident occurred at 3:25 p.m. as Hoan Lai, 59, of Westminster was driving in the northbound center lane of Harbor Boulevard, Whitten said. Lai tried to turn right as he approached Hazard Avenue but apparently did not see the school bus traveling about 25 m.p.h. in the right lane.

“Lai said he wanted to make a phone call from a telephone booth at the corner,” Whitten said.

The school bus driver, Joe Faimalo, 44, of Stanton, braked, throwing the young passengers forward, Whitten said.

Although the bus and car did not collide, eight of 60 students in the bus complained of pain, cuts and bruises. Four children were taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, three were taken to AMI Medical Center of Garden Grove and one went to UCI Medical Center in Orange.

UCI Medical Center spokeswoman Lillian Sundquist said Veronica Estrada, 10, of Santa Ana was treated for a “minor bump on the nose” and released.

Spokeswomen for the other hospitals said the children were treated for minor injuries and released. Those children’s names were not released, but the youngsters taken to the Fountain Valley hospital ranged in age from 5 to 9, nursing supervisor Liz Broussard said.