La Habra Girl, 16, Dies in Predawn Car-Bus Crash

A 16-year-old girl was killed early Tuesday when the car she was riding in slammed into an OCTA Dial-a-Ride bus in an Anaheim intersection.

Erin Tanamachi, a sophomore at Sonora High School in La Habra, was pronounced dead at the scene of the predawn accident. The driver of the car, also 16, was seriously injured.

The bus driver, as well as two firefighters who were hurt while trying to free the girls, were treated for minor injuries.

The bus carried no passengers.

The “jaws of life,” a piece of heavy equipment commonly used to free victims, malfunctioned during rescue efforts, spraying caustic fluid on the firefighters.

Firefighters said it took them about 45 minutes to rescue the surviving girl from the wreckage of the Ford Mustang.

The malfunction, firefighters said, did not contribute to the death of the passenger.

“The passenger sustained massive multisystem trauma. We wouldn’t have been able to save her because they were extremely traumatic injuries,” said Kent Mastain, division chief of the Anaheim Fire Department.

The accident occurred about 4:40 a.m. when the gray Mustang, which was northbound on Euclid Street, slammed into a bus headed west on Ball Road, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez.

The bus, with the sports car embedded in its midsection, was hurled about 50 feet, Martinez said. The bus was nearly split in half.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, but officials said the Mustang’s speed was a factor.

Tanamachi and the teen driver, who was not identified, were best friends, family members said.

The youngest of three daughters, Tanamachi was a member of her high school swim team and worked as a tutor, helping children in math. She also volunteered at a convalescent home near her La Habra home.

“She helped in anything she could,” said her cousin Silvia Calito, 31, of Anaheim. “She was a sweet girl.”

Calito said she did not know why Tanamachi was out before sunrise.

She said she passed by the accident scene on her way to work and saw the wreckage.

“It was very bad and I was hoping the best for whoever was involved,” she said.

“But I never thought it would be my family member. It has been difficult.”

Memorial services are scheduled for noon Saturday at Coleman Mortuary in La Habra.