Van, Inmate Bus Collide

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bus carrying jail inmates collided Thursday with a van, causing minor injuries to 40 prisoners and to five passengers in the other vehicle, authorities said.

Jim Wells, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman, said the accident occurred about 6:30 p.m. near Florence and Dalton avenues. Wells said the cause was unclear and under investigation.

Wells said the van passengers were taken to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and to St. Francis Medical Center. The inmates, who mostly complained of neck and back pain, were taken to the Men’s Central Jail, which was deemed a more secure location for treatment of their injuries, he said.