8 Slightly Injured in Bus, Truck Collision

Eight people suffered minor injuries when a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and a delivery truck collided Friday, authorities said.

Five men, including the MTA bus driver, and three women complained of back and neck pain and were transported to area hospitals, said Battalion Chief Bill Cody of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The bus carrying about 30 passengers was driving west on Roscoe Boulevard at 2 p.m. when the truck, which was going east on Roscoe, turned left onto Kester Avenue in front of the oncoming bus, Cody said.

The bus driver hit the end of the truck, and the impact caused the bus’ windshield to shatter and pop out.

Arturo Ibarra, 19, and his 2-year-old sister, Reina, were standing near the back of the bus.

“I just grabbed [Reina],” said Ibarra, of North Hills, who was on his way home from Valley College. “She just grabbed on to my leg. She was a little scared.”

The truck driver, Delfino Gonzalez, said he was delivering frozen meats and vegetables to a convalescent hospital on Kester and Roscoe.

“[The bus driver] made a move like he would stop, and that’s why I made the turn,” said Gonzalez, 42, of Burbank. “There was nothing I could do to stop.”