School-Bus Driver Faces Drunk-Driving Count

A school-bus driver transporting Clairemont High School students was charged with drunk driving after his bus rear-ended a pickup truck in San Diego, injuring three people, including an unidentified student whose collarbone was broken, the California Highway Patrol said.

Those hurt in the accident Friday--the student and two occupants of the pickup--were treated at Mission Bay Hospital and released.

A motorist who said he witnessed the accident told authorities that the school bus appeared to be racing along Balboa Avenue with another school bus just before the crash, according to the CHP, which is investigating.

The driver of the other bus has not been found, and it was not clear what company he worked for, said Carlos Gutierrez, a CHP traffic officer.

Despite the racing account, Gutierrez estimated that the bus involved in the accident was traveling no more than 40 m.p.h. in a zone where the legal speed limit is 35 m.p.h.

The driver, Joseph Bolden, 41, of San Diego, works for Laidlaw Transit Inc., the same company that employed a school-bus driver arrested at an Encino elementary school last month on charges of driving while drunk. In the Encino incident, the driver, Harold Keith Lone, had a history of drunk-driving convictions but had managed to obtain a license and a driving job by using an alias, authorities said.

Company officials in San Diego could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Bolden, who was not injured, was freed Friday evening from County Jail on his own recognizance, a jail spokeswoman said. He was charged with a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Bolden told authorities he had had one beer several hours before the crash, which occurred at 2:30 p.m., Gutierrez said. Results of a blood-alcohol test were not yet available, and Bolden had no other violations on his school bus driver’s certificate, he said.

The CHP provided the following account of the accident:

Bolden’s bus, a 12-passenger model, was heading west on Balboa Avenue, toward Mission Bay Drive. His bus was in the center lane, while the bus with which it was allegedly racing was in the right lane.

Bolden apparently could not stop the bus in time to avoid rear-ending the pickup, which was stopped at a traffic light. The pickup crashed into the rear of a sedan in front of it.