Semi Truck Crash Injures 13 People
Semi Truck crashes are usually the worst. They’re scary and usually multiple people are injured. There was a bad semi truck crash Sunday morning in California. The crash left 13 people dead and dozens more injured. This was due to a tour bus collided with semi truck.
The crash happened at 5:17 in the morning. The incident was in the westbound lanes of the 10 Freeway at Indian Canyon in the Desert Hot Springs area. The Semi truck driver was hauling food products. That driver only had moderate injuries. According to the police report, the driver just remembers feeling a “thump in the back”.
California Highway Patrol Border Division, Chief Jim Abele’s s Statement:
The speed of the bus was so significant that when it hit the back of the big-rig trailer, the trailer itself entered about 15 feet into the bus, So you can see there was a substantial impact.
There were 44 people on board the tour bus, police believe that everyone on board were adults. The officials wouldn’t say if they thought that the death toll would rise.
The tour bus was identified as a 1996 USA Holiday bus. The Los Angeles based company usually ferries people from LA to the nearby casinos. The bus driver just happens to be the owner of the company as well. He has not been identified at this time, but was sadly killed in the crash.
Adele said that the bus was inspected the last three year without any mechanical deficiencies reported. The reports from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration showed that the bus had no prior crashes.
The police shut down the freeway after the crash of the incident. The police thought that it would re-open by 4 p.m. local time.
The survivors told the police that all the passengers aboard the bus were asleep at the time of the crash. None of the passengers have been identified at this time. However, the police did say that they have been in contact with the consulates from Mexico, Australia,and Japan.
There hasn’t been a definite cause of the crash identified at this time. According to Abele, a lot of the newer model buses usually have a black box that indicates what went wrong. The police have not ruled any use of drugs or alcohol, or even fatigue.
Workers Work to Clean Up Crash
The firefighters on scene had to use ladders which they placed close to the bus’ windows so that they could pull the victims out. According to the reports, it took around two hours to separate the vehicles.
The Palm Springs hospital treated around fourteen patients. According to their reports, there were five in critical condition, three in serious condition and six with minor injuries. All of those patients were adults. Palm Springs Houses is the valley’s only trauma center.
Desert Regional director of marketing, Rich Ramhoff stated that it was the most victims that he had ever seen from a single accident.
Eleven people who had minor injuries had to be send to Eisenhower Medical Center in the Rancho Mirage area. According to Officer Linda Evans, JFK Medical Center had gotten five patients all with minor injuries.
Pick-Up Truck Crash
San Diego stays pretty busy. Traffic is always backed up and there’s always a crash to be leery of. According to reports, on October 16th an out of control pickup truck crashed through a guardrail on the Coronado Bridge. This happened Saturday which just happens to be an easier busier time for traffic.
The truck plummeted into a park below. Just so happens that during the crash the people below were enjoying the Chicano Park Music Festival.
According to the reports, the pickup truck fell around 60ft. The impact killed four people. Two of the nine people who were injured have suffered major trauma.
Truck Plows Off Bridge
The driver was later identified as an off duty Navy serviceman, Richard Anthony Sepolio. Sepolio is only twenty-five years old. He was taken to the University of California San Diego hospital with major injuries. Sepolio wasn’t in the hospital for very long since he was later arrested on a suspicion driving under the influence. Sepolio was reportedly stationed at Coronado Island.
The victims names haven’t been released however the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said that the victims were a sixty-two year old man and a fifty year old woman, both of those victims were from Arizona. There were also two more victims, aging at fifty-nine years old man and a forty-nine year old woman from the Hacienda Heights area.
The people who were on the scene told the reporters that two of the victims were actually vendors at the festival. The festival was in the Bario Logan area of the city, which is known as a Mexican-American neighborhood.
According to the reports, there were around 100 people in the park during the accident. Police called the crash “horrific”.
Jake Sanchez (CHP Officer) Statement:
It’s horrible, it’s horrific. There’s people down below, bodies – just innocent people that are just down here having a good time and now they’re gone. We feel for their families.
When asked for certain details about the crash, Officer Sanchez said that he had no information about the reason for the crash or the chase, he wasn’t quite sure of the speed of the vehicle either. Officer Sanchez did say that alcohol was involved.
Witness, Dolores D’ Angelo’s Statement:
Pieces of car parts were flying all over the place. When we got up, we turned around, everybody started running over there because we realised, there were people sitting there – there were people sitting right there. We were trying to get in to see if we could maybe lift up the car, move the car out of the way to see if we could get the people out. There were so many people crowded by then.
Mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer tweeted: “Praying for victims & families affected by the tragedy in Chicano Park. Devastated this occurred in one of our community’s most beloved places”.
Daniel A. Gibalevich
DAG Law Firm
