9 Injured as Car Hits School Bus on Freeway
A car collided with a school bus carrying 17 students to Pacoima Middle School on Friday morning, causing minor injuries to two people in the car as well as the driver and six students in the bus.
The accident occurred at 6:50 a.m. on the Santa Monica Freeway at the Golden State Freeway interchange when the unidentified 30-year-old male driver of a car abruptly changed lanes and rear-ended the bus, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Wendy Moore.
The vehicles became entangled and slammed into the center divider, with the car coming to rest underneath the bus, Moore said. Both vehicles blocked the left lane of the transition for more than two hours.
The driver of the car and his 20-year-old female passenger, who suffered minor injuries, were taken to County-USC Medical Center, a Fire Department spokesman said.
All 17 children aboard the bus are students in the school’s theater arts and computer science magnet programs, school officials said.
The bus driver and six students--four 12-year-old boys and two 11-year-old girls--complained of neck and back pain, Moore said. They were treated and released from White Memorial, County-USC Medical Center and East Los Angeles Doctors Hospital.
The 11 other students boarded another bus and were taken to school, said Principal David Gonzalez.
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