4 Children, 2 Adults Injured in Crash

Four disabled students and two adults were injured when a school bus and a car collided and the bus overturned on the San Bernardino Freeway in El Monte on Wednesday, authorities said.

The van-sized 1991 Ford bus was traveling east near Santa Anita Avenue when an unidentified woman driving a white Cadillac attempted to change lanes and did not see the bus, California Highway Patrol Officer Louis Gutierrez said.

“The car clipped the front end of the bus causing the driver to lose control, travel across the lanes and hit a center divider,” Gutierrez said.

The driver of the car, an aide on the bus and the four students were among those injured, officials said. They were taken to local hospitals for treatment, Gutierrez said.

Richard Fletcher, a dispatcher for the El Monte Fire Department, said the bus was en route to the Byron E. Thompson School for the Orthopedically Handicapped in El Monte when the crash occurred about 8:15 a.m.

Haswell said the children on the bus, which was equipped with seat belts, were 4 to 8 years old.

El Monte City School District Supt. Jeff Seymour said the injured students were shaken by the accident but otherwise fine. Seymour and other school officials were at the hospital immediately after the accident to soothe the children.