Officials Say Bus Driver May Face DUI Charges

A Los Angeles Unified School District bus driver could still face charges of driving while intoxicated even if he did not cause the multi-vehicle crash that sent his school bus careening across the Hollywood Freeway, authorities said Thursday.

CHP officers continued piecing together the cause of the Wednesday morning crash that injured seven high school students on Jose Guadalupe Renteria’s bus after it was hit by a pickup truck. Renteria, 30, of San Fernando, bailed out of the Van Nuys jail Wednesday night on a $30,000 bond.

The crash began when a car skidded on the rain-slicked northbound Hollywood Freeway near Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood, setting off a chain reaction in which Renteria’s bus was struck by the pickup, sending the bus into two other vehicles, authorities said. Renteria had been ferrying students to El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills.

Officers at the scene smelled alcohol on Renteria’s breath, and a test later showed that his blood alcohol content registered at .038%, CHP Sgt. Andrew Hernandez said. The legal limit for someone operating a bus is .04%, Hernandez said, but Renteria was arrested anyway. The legal limit for blood-alcohol content for drivers of passenger vehicles is .08%.

Hernandez said blood-alcohol content drops at a rate of about .02% per hour, and that Renteria began his shift about one hour prior to the crash. “We’re going to try and show his blood-alcohol level earlier that day,” Hernandez said.

Officials said Renteria told them he had been drinking the night before the crash.

El Camino Principal Ron Bauer said students were worried about what effect the incident might have on his future.

“There was some real positive rapport with him,” Bauer said. “One girl indicated the kids had a good relationship with him.”

His supervisor, Gail Corington, refused to discuss Renteria. But district officials, who again reviewed his personnel file Thursday, reiterated that he was a good employee.

Hernandez said the case is complex and unique and that he does not know when his investigators will present it to the district attorney, who will ultimately determine what, if any, charges are filed.

“This is not your normal driving under the influence,” he said, adding that it is still unclear whether Renteria’s alleged intoxication caused the crash. But “if you’re out on the highway, even if you’re not accountable for the crash, you’re still driving under the influence,”

Times staff writer Beth Shuster contributed to this story.