Cause of Reno Bus Crash Probed : Accident: Rain apparently contributed to the collision that injured dozens of Norwalk senior citizens and killed an off-duty patrol woman. Twelve people remain hospitalized.

Twelve members of a Norwalk senior citizens group remained hospitalized in Reno Tuesday as investigators tried to find out why a car driven by an off-duty Nevada Highway Patrol officer strayed into the path of a tour bus carrying 44 seniors.

The officer, Lynne T. Hammill, 52, of Carson City, was fatally injured in the collision on U.S. 395, about 10 miles south of Reno.

Pat Dyer, 69, of Norwalk remained in serious condition with a head injury at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, hospital spokeswoman Wendy Knorr said.

Eleven other injured passengers were in satisfactory or good condition with broken ribs, back injuries, cuts and bruises at Washoe and two other hospitals. Thirty-three others, including the bus driver, were treated for minor injuries and released.

Washoe County Sheriff’s investigators said Tuesday that Hammill’s 1986 sedan crossed from the southbound lanes into the northbound lanes and was struck by the tour bus at about 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Hammill, a 22-year-veteran who worked court cases, had left work in Reno and was on her way home when the accident occurred, said patrol Capt. Ronald Forshey.

The patrol transferred the accident investigation to the county Sheriff’s Department because one of its officers was involved.

A rain-slick highway was at least partially responsible for Hammill’s car crossing the median of the four-lane highway, Sheriff’s Lt. James Ganyon said.

“When it rains sometimes it’s easy to hydroplane,” Ganyon said. “For some reason she lost control of the vehicle and crossed into the northbound lanes.”

The Norwalk Senior Citizens Center, which is funded by the city of Norwalk, chartered the bus from Majestic Tours of Redondo Beach. The bus left Norwalk Monday morning and was to return Thursday.

The bus was en route to Bally’s Resort Hotel. It had been raining intermittently, and the bus’s windshield wipers swept off a light sprinkle just before impact, said bus driver Gregory A. Armenta, 27, of Manhattan Beach.

“I noticed a car coming southbound . . . started fishtailing a little bit,” Armenta said. “This vehicle just lost all control and went into a spin and came at me.”

Armenta said he lost control after the collision sent the bus onto the highway shoulder and down an embankment. The bus hit a tree and a utility pole before crashing on its side, Ganyon said.

Eduarda Perez, who helped organize the tour, was sitting with her husband, Hector, in one of the front seats. Perez said she was pinned in a stairwell as the passengers on the left side of the bus spilled onto those on the right side.

“When the bus rolled over a man fell right on my chest,” Perez said Tuesday from her hospital bed. “I kept saying, ‘Please get up, get up, get up,’ and he finally got up from my chest.” Perez suffered a fractured sternum and was in stable condition.

Meanwhile, city officials in Norwalk scrambled to make arrangements for the seniors to return home.

Mayor Luigi A. Vernola said some would return by plane and others by bus provided by Majestic Tours.