CHP Says Simpson Kin Didn’t Alter Crash Story

California Highway Patrol officials Wednesday described the fatal crash of an airport shuttle bus driven by O.J. Simpson’s brother as “a terrible tragedy” and contradicted earlier reports that Melvin Leon Simpson had changed his story about the cause of the accident.

Simpson, the older brother of the former football great who was acquitted of killing his wife and her friend in 1995, was driving a 21-seat bus that struck a guardrail on Interstate 280 last Friday morning and veered into a concrete support column. The accident killed Lynne de Matties, 57, of Phoenix. Her husband was seriously injured, and one other passenger lost two fingers.

Lynne de Matties hit her head on the concrete column and was then ejected onto the roadway. In the chaos after the crash Simpson told officials he believed that the dead woman was a pedestrian who had wandered into his path, causing the accident. He later said another vehicle had veered into his lane.

Investigators have since determined that Simpson took his eyes off the road to change lanes and drifted into the divider. However, they said that his earlier statements were not intentionally misleading and that the driver was just trying to make sense of the incident.

“This is what happens to witnesses in tragedies,” said CHP Sgt. Phil Grant, who had been at the accident scene. “They try to add up the pieces. And they don’t have it.”

Emergency crews who arrived first at the crash also believed that the dead woman had been a pedestrian. According to a family friend, Lynne and Nick De Matties had been married for about a decade. She had recently been promoted to vice president at Scottsdale-based Forever Living Products, which distributes aloe vera products worldwide. “She was poised, soft-spoken but firm. She was just regal,” said Doris Lawson, 64. “She was never angry, never disparaging of anyone.”

Nick de Matties, 65, is an artist whose work is shown in museums and galleries around the world. The couple had survived a fire two years ago that burned their house to the ground.

Nick de Matties told Lawson on Tuesday from San Francisco General Hospital that he had broken 12 ribs and one vertebra, had seven staples in his head and “that one of his fingers was hamburger.” He hoped to fly home by Friday.

“He seemed subdued and down. But he said, ‘I will heal,’ ” Lawson said.

The crash has taken an emotional toll on Simpson, 58, who was described by colleagues as a conscientious worker who had a good driving record. “He’s always been a stand-up guy, a solid driver and a good person,” said Jeff Leonoudakis, vice president of the SFO Airporter company where Simpson worked.

Simpson has been placed on administrative leave.

Investigators blamed the accident on “an unsafe turning movement” by Simpson. Since a death was involved, Grant said, the CHP must refer the case to the San Francisco district attorney’s office. Grant said prosecutors have declined to press charges in some comparable cases.

Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology tests that would reveal whether Simpson was under the influence. There was no overt indication that he had taken such substances.

Simpson’s status as the brother of a celebrity probably spurred media interest in the accident and shone a harsh light on him, Grant said.

“It’s something you don’t want to live with regardless of who you are,” he said.