28 Hurt When Bus Hits Tree in Sherman Oaks

Nearly 30 people were injured Saturday when a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus returning from the Getty Center, possibly crippled by brake failure, lost control on a freeway exit ramp and slammed into a car before crashing to a halt against a palm tree.

Fifty-four passengers were on the standing-room-only bus when the accident occurred about 5 p.m. on the Ventura Boulevard offramp of the northbound San Diego Freeway, authorities said. After evaluation by paramedics, 28 people requested transport to area hospitals for treatment of neck and back injuries that ranged from minor to moderate.

It was unclear whether any Getty visitors were on the bus, which runs from near LAX to Sylmar and is one of the primary means of public transportation to the newly opened museum.

“Amazingly, there was no one trapped and no serious injuries,” said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Fire Department. “There were contusions, abrasions and some [passengers] were visibly shaken, but most were in good spirits and tremendously cooperative.”

Witnesses reported that the driver failed to negotiate a tight turn at the end of the exit ramp, sending MTA bus No. 561 onto the nearby median between the freeway’s on- and offramps. The bus crushed the side of a two-door Honda Civic, which then struck two other cars, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Investigators were looking into reports that the brakes on the bus may have failed, though no cause has been determined, said CHP Officer Karen Faciane. Some passengers said the driver, 25-year-old Dominique Mix-Lawton, was frantically pumping the brakes before slamming into the tree. Mix-Lawton was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Van Nuys, where she was described in stable condition with back and knee pain but no broken bones.

Officials said they do not suspect that alcohol or drugs were involved. CHP Sgt. Ernie Garcia said an investigation into the accident will be “lengthy,” lasting at least three or four days.

While some passengers criticized the driver for going too fast, officials at the scene praised her for taking evasive action.

“She had a split-second decision to make: Either plow into the cars in front of her or hit the guardrail,” said Michelle Caldwell, an MTA deputy executive officer. “She made the right choice.”

Those on board the bus described a chaotic scene as the bus veered out of control, with passengers screaming and desperately grasping for handholds. Some handrails broke off, witnesses said. By the end of the terrifying accident, passengers had been tossed all over the bus. Many were on the floor.

“I’m so happy to be alive. Our lives were in danger,” said Van Nuys resident Damallie Mawanda, 41.

Others said they saw the driver frantically trying to stop the bus.

“When she started to hit the brakes, you could hear her pump them,” said North Hollywood resident J.R. Ainsworth, 23, who was coming home from his job at Nordstrom in West Hollywood when the accident happened. “We hit two cars and then instantly hit a palm and came to a dead stop.”

A few passengers at the scene said they smelled burning rubber while on the freeway. Nely Elazo, 30, and Mawanda were talking about the smell just before the crash and briefly debated whether to tell the driver. But it was too difficult to make their way from the back of the crowded bus to the front, they said.

“I hope we don’t have an accident,” Elazo told Mawanda. “Two minutes later, we’re flying.”

MTA officials are under a federal consent order to allow no more than 15 people standing in the bus at a time. MTA spokesman Gary Wosk said at least 11 people were standing when the accident occurred.

CHP officials recently rated two of the MTA’s bus yards “unsatisfactory” after finding problems with buses during safety inspections. Thirteen of 40 buses checked were ordered off the roads in October and November inspections at bus terminals in downtown and South-Central Los Angeles, according to CHP reports. Among the problems, inspectors found defective brakes.

MTA officials said the bus involved in Saturday’s accident didn’t originate from either of those bus yards. In addition, they said they had immediately moved to fix such problems.

“We wouldn’t put the bus out on the street if it was not roadworthy,” said Gary Spivak, MTA service operations director.

Safety was on the mind of Elazo when she boarded the bus Saturday for a job interview. She took the bus because she’d recently been in a car accident.

“This is the first time I’ve ridden a bus since my accident in my car,” Elazo said. “My friends told me to go to my interview on the bus because it was safer.”