Woman Dies in Multiple-Vehicle Crash

A 51-year-old woman was killed Friday in Palm Desert when a suspected drunk driver careered into a pair of vehicles and a bus carrying 23 high school students.

Olga A. Vasquez, a Cathedral City resident who was driving one of the cars, died at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage at 8:02 a.m., about an hour after the accident, authorities said.

Officials said Phillip Vigil, 42, also of Cathedral City, was speeding north on Cook Street, possibly while in pursuit of his ex-wife, who was driving another vehicle.

“He was in a rage,” said California Highway Patrol Sgt. Paul Crescenti.

The traffic signal at Country Club Drive turned red, but Vigil’s 1994 Ford Ranger was traveling too fast to stop, according to the CHP.

He first clipped the back of a 2005 Infiniti sedan whose driver had stopped on Cook.

Next he smashed into the 1985 Honda Accord that Vasquez was driving west on Country Club, the CHP report said.

Vigil’s Ranger then spun and struck the front of a bus on its way to Palm Desert High School.

Eleven students told officials at the scene that they were experiencing pain, although only two were taken to Eisenhower Medical Center and none were admitted.

Another bus picked up the rest of the teenagers, said a Desert Sands Unified School District official.

Vigil was treated at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for minor injuries.

He was booked into the Indio jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, manslaughter, driving under the influence and violating a court order relating to domestic violence. His bail was set at $500,000.

Desert Sands Supt. Doris Wilson praised driver Gary White, 61, of Thermal for halting the bus as he saw the collision unfold.

“Had he gone through, it would be a different story tonight,” she said. “We’re so sorry for Olga and her family, but thank God no students were injured.”