Healing Time : For Young Bus Crash Victims, Emotional Wounds Are as Painful as Injuries

Twelve-year-old Jessica Peirog was told there might be nightmares, and there were.

They came with vivid pictures of people screaming followed by an eerie silence and crying faces begging for help. There was a thump and then more deafening screams. Suitcases covered one girl, whose leg dangled between them. Another girl’s bloody face was framed by a shattered window.

Jessica was aboard the church bus Friday afternoon that slid off a winding road and tipped over during an outing organized by Coast Hills Community Church in Laguna Niguel. Miraculously, all 31 passengers walked away from the wreckage with minor or moderate injuries.

“After the accident, I didn’t remember much, just bits and pieces,” said Jessica of Laguna Niguel. “But last night, I had flashbacks of everything that happened.”

The bus--one of three chartered for the weekend jaunt--was carrying a group of teen-age girls from Coast Hills Community Church to a “Wild Winter Weekend” retreat near Idyllwild in Riverside County.

A mile east of Pinyon Pines, it swerved off California 74 about 4:10 p.m. in the rugged mountains on the route to Palm Desert. The vehicle rolled over on its right side and slid down a hill.

Before the crash, riders said the bus was bustling with activity and conversation. Passengers walked in the aisles, socializing with each other, and sat on luggage at the back of the bus. Although the vehicle was equipped with seat belts, most were not used, authorities said.

The driver, James A. Miller III, 35, of Wilmington, told California Highway Patrol officers that he was lost and had been looking at his map book when he accidentally drove off the road.

The right tires slid onto the dirt shoulder, authorities said, and Miller tried to get the vehicle back onto the road. But the bus skidded completely off the highway and came to rest on a mound of boulders about 50 feet below the pavement.

Authorities impounded the vehicle Friday night for mechanical inspection. Miller was not cited, pending further investigation, CHP officials said.

The accident was the second involving youngsters in the Palm Springs area in recent months. Last July, a charter bus carrying a group of Girl Scouts from across the nation crashed on the road leading to the Palm Springs Tramway. Four girls, two adult passengers and the bus driver were killed. Forty-seven were injured.

After Friday’s accident, the girls from Coast Hills Community Church were taken to various hospitals. Later, they went to Palm Desert City Hall, where they were counseled by trauma specialists who told them they might have recurring nightmares.

They were encouraged to share their experiences, and many did so as they gathered at the Stouffer Esmerelda Resort hotel early Saturday morning. The swank hotel offered to house them and their parents for a night without charge.

“I was on top of somebody, and everybody was on top of me,” said Sarah Butler, 12, of San Juan Capistrano as she gently favored her right knee, marked with a bloody gash. “I couldn’t get out. I was like kicking and stuff, and I started walking over people, crying.”

Amy Esser, 13, said she could not remember much, not even the helicopter ride to the hospital. She only recalled hearing a thud during the bus ride and waking up in the hospital.

Her mother, Kathy Esser, 39, heard about the accident while watching television in bed. “I jerked up and said, ‘No, it can’t be,’ but somehow I knew Amy was on that bus,” said Esser, her eyes misting with tears as she smiled at her daughter.

Her lips bruised and her left arm in a blue cast that supported her broken wrist, Amy looked worse for wear as she tried to decide whether to go home with her parents or go on to the retreat with some of her friends. In the end, she decided to head for home.

“I’ll take the weekend to recuperate,” Amy said.

She and more than half of the girls on the bus returned home with their parents after a short rest.

Jessica Peirog, on the other hand, said she was looking forward to seeing her friends at the retreat at the Pathfinder Ranch, a facility often used by churches. Her nightmares behind her, Jessica did not want to stay home.

“We came here for a purpose,” she said, “and I think the reason we’re all safe is because God was with us. I’m not going to turn back now. . . . Getting to the retreat is shorter than going home.”