Driver never hit brakes in deadly crash, cops say
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Ana Car didn’t remember the sudden impact, only that she woke up among dead and injured passengers in a dark bus filled with screams of terror and agony.
The retired factory worker had spent an evening gambling at a desert casino and was sound asleep when the bus heading to Los Angeles smashed into the rear of a slow-moving tractortrailer, killing the bus driver and 12 passengers, while injuring 31 other people.
“I can’t believe how many died,” she said, sobbing.
“It was so horrible. These images are going to stay in my head for life.”
The National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the collision, one of the deadliest wrecks in California history.
The truck was creeping along at 5 mph because of utility work along Interstate 10 near Palm Springs. That’s when the bus, moving as fast as 65 mph, slammed into it, authorities said.
“There’s no indication whatsoever that the driver applied the brakes,” said California Highway Patrol Border Division Chief Jim Abele, citing the power of the impact and the fact that no skid marks were found.
Initial reports said four people were dead, but many bodies were later found in the front portion of the bus that ended up inside the trailer.
“They just kept pulling bodies stuck in between the seats,” he said.
“It’s just due to this bus going so fast into the back of the truck. Why he did that, that’s what we’re trying to find out.”
Car, 61, was sitting toward the back of the bus when it rammed the truck around 5:15 a.m. Sunday. She awoke to find herself standing amid bodies flung everywhere. Those who could move were pushing and shoving in the pre-dawn darkness to climb out from under each other.
She clambered to a broken window to yell for help, panicked she would be trapped if the bus caught fire. Motorists who stopped to help pulled her out the broken window.
“I couldn’t stand when they got me out,” Car said.
“I sat on the side of the road, watching them pull so many people out. I saw so much blood and two dead bodies. I was so scared.”
The NTSB planned to look into the history of the bus, its owner-driver and other circumstances, such as what the driver was doing during the four to five hours the bus was at the Red Earth Casino in the desert town of Thermal before making the 135-mile trip back to Los Angeles.