One person was killed and more than a dozen high school students were injured today in a collision that apparently began when the driver of a BMW ran a red light in Boyle Heights, then struck a pedestrian, and hit a school bus broadside. The bus overturned and rested on it's side.
The pedestrian died at the scene. 19 people were taken to hospitals. Eighteen Roosevelt High School students were hospitalized with non- life-threatening injuries, and their bus driver was taken to a hospital in critical condition, but his condition was upgraded to serious by late this afternoon.
And the 25 remanding students who had minor or no injuries were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station to be reunited with their parents.
Paramedics called each child's name, and the corresponding worried parents came forward to be reunited with their child.
Most of the kids there said they were just fine, but shaken up.
"Everybody from one side fell on top of each other," according to Jacqueline Guax, a student on the bus. "My friend was on the bottom of all the students, and I had to pull her out. I was freaking out."
"We were in a green light, it was our turn to go, and then the car just came and hit us. I was in the back of the bus and we just flipped," says Susanna Romero, a student on the bus.
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Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines came to offer support to the families, and took up the question of seatbelts on school buses, an on going debate.
"There is a study that shows that seatbelts on busses are not as safe because students can not get out if there is this kind of accident," says Ramon C. Cortines, LAUSD Superintendent. "There is always the debate about, on school buses, whether there should be, or shouldn't be. What we've done is follow the Highway Patrol, and the California Safety Code."
