Girl, 9, Struck by Bus While Crossing Street

A 9-year-old Camarillo girl suffered a minor leg injury and several deep cuts when she was struck by a school bus Monday while riding her bicycle.

Megan Vargas was hit at 2:15 p.m. as she pedaled her bike across a crosswalk on Ventura Avenue at Fir Street. Paramedics thought she had fractured her leg, but X-rays revealed only bruises, Ventura County Fire Capt. Tom Law said.

Megan was taken by ambulance to St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo where she was sedated and kept briefly for observation, California Highway Patrol Officer George Orozco said.

“The bus driver saw the child on the sidewalk at the corner, but the girl assumed the bus was yielding the right-of-way,” Orozco said. “She began to go across the intersection and the bus accelerated.”

The impact of the broadside crash left Megan’s bike twisted like a pretzel under the front bumper of the bus.

Megan was traveling with her 7-year-old sister, Natalie. It was unclear whether Natalie, who was walking, saw the crash. She was uninjured and officers said she stood on the sidewalk as paramedics helped Megan.

The girls live within a few blocks of the crash and apparently attend the nearby Los Primeros School, Orozco said. A school secretary said she could not confirm whether the girls were students and the school’s principal did not return a message.

The crash stunned Laidlaw bus driver Maria Allenman, a five-year employee with a good driving record, said her boss, Major Patterson, manager of Laidlaw’s Oxnard office.

“She was shaken,” he said. “You hit a child and you are going to be very nervous.”

Patterson said Allenman was driving students to their homes in Oxnard and Port Hueneme. The bus was carrying 20 developmentally disabled teens who attend Adolfo Camarillo High School, Patterson said, adding that the students were transferred to another Laidlaw bus for the ride home.

Allenman was driven back to the Laidlaw yard by a co-worker, Patterson said. The bus she was driving was not damaged, and another employee drove it back to the lot, he said.

In accordance with company policy, Allenman was put on paid leave pending the outcome of drug tests and a Laidlaw investigation. Patterson said he is confident she will be able to return to work soon.