Bus Loaded With Inmates Rear-Ends Car
A bus shuttling 49 jail inmates from court back to their cells was involved in a freeway crash Friday that tied up traffic for hours, authorities said.
The Orange County sheriff’s bus was en route from Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach to jails in Santa Ana and Orange when it rear-ended a car on the northbound Costa Mesa Freeway near MacArthur Boulevard, officials said.
One inmate suffered a cut on his head in the 5:27 p.m. crash, said Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Paddock. Later in the day, six other inmates complained of injuries, and each was being evaluated in the jail hospital ward, Paddock said.
A child among the three occupants in the front car suffered a “bump to the head,” but was treated and released at the scene, Paddock said.
The cause of the crash was not clear Friday, and the California Highway Patrol was investigating.
The bus, along with the usual crush of Friday afternoon traffic, caused a “nightmare backup” on the freeway that lasted into the evening, Paddock said.
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