11/18/2008 9:30 AM
CHICAGO – A morning accident involving a bus and two vehicles sent over two dozen people to the hospital. EMS instituted a Plan II response to the incident, which occurred at West Roosevelt Road and South Blue Island Avenue on the Near West Side.
According to CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski, the bus was stopped at an intersection when it was struck by a car. The driver of the car was taken in serious to critical condition to the hospital.
23 passengers on the bus were taken to the hospital. They were listed in fair to serious condition and none had life threatening injuries. A total of 13 ambulances were called to the scene.
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
DMV: Driver in Calif. crash lacked bus license
Date: 10/7/2008 8:52 PM
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ The bus that crashed and killed eight people on a Northern California road was driven by a man who wasn’t properly licensed and owned by another man who had claimed to be the vehicle’s only driver, state officials said Tuesday.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating whether the bus that crashed Sunday north of Sacramento was inspected annually, as required by law. They also are looking at whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Quintin Watts, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday while he was still hospitalized for his injuries. Watts didn’t have the proper license to carry more than 10 passengers, said Mike Marando, a DMV spokesman.
“He wasn’t authorized to drive a bus in the state of California,” Marando explained. “It is the responsibility of the bus company owner to make sure the driver is properly licensed, and that was not the case here.”
Patrol officers believe the bus owner was Daniel Cobb, 68, who died in the crash. State public records show that Cobb was insured and had a valid permit from the Public Utilities Commission to operate a bus service.
Under the permit, however, Cobb listed only himself and not Watts as the sole driver of the single bus he had registered with the commission, agency officials said.
“Mr. Cobb certified under penalty of perjury that he had no employees and was therefore not required to maintain workers’ compensation insurance,” said Paul Wuerstle, the commission’s head of transportation enforcement.
A witness said the bus carrying 42 passengers to Colusa Casino Resort drifted off a rural two-lane road before the driver “overcorrected” and swerved back. It overturned and rolled completely over, ending up on its wheels facing the opposite direction. About 30 people were injured. Many of the passengers were Laotian seniors.
The bus had an invalid license plate, the CHP said.
Watts’ family issued a statement through Woodland Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries in the crash.
“We would like to share our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones and also let everyone know we are praying for those who are still in the hospital,” the statement said.
Watts’ adoptive parents said they were told by friends and family members that Cobb was Watts’ stepfather. Cobb had been married to Watts’ biological mother before she died about 10 years ago, said Cleval Watts, who adopted Quintin Watts when he was 6 months old.
He added that Quintin Watts was diabetic and taking insulin.
Passengers who survived the crash tell social workers that the bus driver appeared to have dozed off and passengers tried to warn him before the vehicle rolled off the road and tumbled into a drainage ditch.
“The bus driver was sleepy and the bus swung to the left and right side. And they were yelling at him on the third swing when it turned over,” said Theresa Saechao of Lao Family Community Development of Sacramento.
Safety advocates and bus industry experts said Tuesday tour bus companies that transport gamblers to casinos don’t always follow government regulations designed to assure passenger safety.
“Some of these rogue operations literally do pickups in alleys where they are trying to keep out of the sight of federal and state authorities,” said Eron Shosteck, spokesman at the American Bus Association, a Washington, D.C.,-based group that represents about 1,000 motorcoach and tour companies in the U.S. and Canada.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulates buses that cross state lines, but tour buses that operate in only one state such as Cobbs Bus Service are a state responsibility.
All commercial buses that travel within California undergo annual inspections by the highway patrol, but in cases where companies don’t have bus terminals, CHP spokesman Scott Johnson said, “we don’t go. If there’s no terminal they don’t respond.”
A bus terminal couldn’t be located for Cobbs Bus Service, which listed a Modesto church and a residence in Sacramento as its headquarters.
Still, the highway patrol told the Public Utilities Commission in October 2007 that Cobb’s operation had passed all necessary inspections and that his permit could be renewed for another three years, Wuerstle said.
Cobb had a permit to operate a bus service in the state since 1974 and had no indications on his record of any past safety violations, Wuerstle said. The commission is not automatically notified if a bus driver has been in an accident, he said.
Records show Watts, of Stockton, had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.
___
Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco and Judy Lin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By SAMANTHA YOUNG
Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ The bus that crashed and killed eight people on a Northern California road was driven by a man who wasn’t properly licensed and owned by another man who had claimed to be the vehicle’s only driver, state officials said Tuesday.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating whether the bus that crashed Sunday north of Sacramento was inspected annually, as required by law. They also are looking at whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Quintin Watts, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Monday while he was still hospitalized for his injuries. Watts didn’t have the proper license to carry more than 10 passengers, said Mike Marando, a DMV spokesman.
“He wasn’t authorized to drive a bus in the state of California,” Marando explained. “It is the responsibility of the bus company owner to make sure the driver is properly licensed, and that was not the case here.”
Patrol officers believe the bus owner was Daniel Cobb, 68, who died in the crash. State public records show that Cobb was insured and had a valid permit from the Public Utilities Commission to operate a bus service.
Under the permit, however, Cobb listed only himself and not Watts as the sole driver of the single bus he had registered with the commission, agency officials said.
“Mr. Cobb certified under penalty of perjury that he had no employees and was therefore not required to maintain workers’ compensation insurance,” said Paul Wuerstle, the commission’s head of transportation enforcement.
A witness said the bus carrying 42 passengers to Colusa Casino Resort drifted off a rural two-lane road before the driver “overcorrected” and swerved back. It overturned and rolled completely over, ending up on its wheels facing the opposite direction. About 30 people were injured. Many of the passengers were Laotian seniors.
The bus had an invalid license plate, the CHP said.
Watts’ family issued a statement through Woodland Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries in the crash.
“We would like to share our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones and also let everyone know we are praying for those who are still in the hospital,” the statement said.
Watts’ adoptive parents said they were told by friends and family members that Cobb was Watts’ stepfather. Cobb had been married to Watts’ biological mother before she died about 10 years ago, said Cleval Watts, who adopted Quintin Watts when he was 6 months old.
He added that Quintin Watts was diabetic and taking insulin.
Passengers who survived the crash tell social workers that the bus driver appeared to have dozed off and passengers tried to warn him before the vehicle rolled off the road and tumbled into a drainage ditch.
“The bus driver was sleepy and the bus swung to the left and right side. And they were yelling at him on the third swing when it turned over,” said Theresa Saechao of Lao Family Community Development of Sacramento.
Safety advocates and bus industry experts said Tuesday tour bus companies that transport gamblers to casinos don’t always follow government regulations designed to assure passenger safety.
“Some of these rogue operations literally do pickups in alleys where they are trying to keep out of the sight of federal and state authorities,” said Eron Shosteck, spokesman at the American Bus Association, a Washington, D.C.,-based group that represents about 1,000 motorcoach and tour companies in the U.S. and Canada.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulates buses that cross state lines, but tour buses that operate in only one state such as Cobbs Bus Service are a state responsibility.
All commercial buses that travel within California undergo annual inspections by the highway patrol, but in cases where companies don’t have bus terminals, CHP spokesman Scott Johnson said, “we don’t go. If there’s no terminal they don’t respond.”
A bus terminal couldn’t be located for Cobbs Bus Service, which listed a Modesto church and a residence in Sacramento as its headquarters.
Still, the highway patrol told the Public Utilities Commission in October 2007 that Cobb’s operation had passed all necessary inspections and that his permit could be renewed for another three years, Wuerstle said.
Cobb had a permit to operate a bus service in the state since 1974 and had no indications on his record of any past safety violations, Wuerstle said. The commission is not automatically notified if a bus driver has been in an accident, he said.
Records show Watts, of Stockton, had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.
___
Associated Press Writer Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco and Judy Lin in Sacramento contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Bus driver in fatal California crash investigated
Date: 10/7/2008 1:41 PM
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press Writer
WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) _ Quintin Watts had a lengthy criminal record, a history of substance abuse and a string of motor vehicle offenses. Even his mother says he wasn’t a good driver.
Yet on Sunday he was behind the wheel of a busload of senior citizens and Laotian immigrants traveling to an American Indian casino north of Sacramento. Eight people were killed and 30 others injured when the bus, owned by Cobb Transportation, ran into a ditch and overturned.
Now authorities are investigating the possibility that the 52-year-old Stockton man may have been on prescription or nonprescription drugs. He was arrested Monday as he lay critically injured in his hospital bed. His condition had improved to fair, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The accident was at least the eighth serious crash in the U.S. in the last three years involving buses carrying people to and from casinos.
Watts didn’t have the proper license to transport more than 10 people, said Fran Clader, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. Investigators also said the bus had an invalid license plate.
Records show Watts had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in the loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.
His mother said he had wrestled with drug and alcohol problems, was jailed several times on drug charges and had smashed a car into a tree a few years ago, though neither he nor a friend who was in the car was seriously hurt.
He was a longtime truck driver, but had been unable to find a trucking job since being released from jail, said his mother, Chaney Mae Watts.
His mother said she believed the crash came on her son’s first day behind the wheel of the bus after several training trips watching the owner — who was killed in Sunday’s crash — drive. She and her husband told their son they were uncomfortable with him driving a vehicle that carried people instead of cargo.
“He wasn’t the best driver,” she said. “He knew we didn’t want him to drive.”
A witness said the bus carrying the driver and 42 passengers to Colusa Casino Resort drifted off a rural two-lane road before the driver “overcorrected” and swerved back. It overturned and rolled completely over, ending up on its wheels facing the opposite direction.
Watts’ criminal record dates back to 1981, when he served state prison time for receiving stolen property. He also served time in 1996 for check fraud and credit card theft. Beginning in 1998, he spent more than a year in prison for possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a destructive device.
His latest state term was for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon. He was paroled in December 2007 after almost six months in prison, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
John Poyner, district attorney for Colusa County, said it will be at least two to three months before the full accident reports are in and any charges are filed. Blood test results are not expected for two to six weeks.
Watts was among eight people injured in the crash who remained hospitalized Tuesday. Families flooded hospitals looking for relatives who may have been involved in the crash.
Yvonne Haynes, 35, of Merced, got a phone call Sunday night from her brother Tou Xiong, 29, saying there had been a bus accident. They started calling hospitals looking for their mother.
Finally, at 3 a.m., the siblings found their mother at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Mai Cha, 74, has a broken rib, face and right wrist. With tubes in her mouth, she cannot speak, said Haynes.
Their aunt also was an injured passenger, 67-year-old Ge Vue of Sacramento. Her son, Xou Xiong, 26, said his mother described the crash to him.
“All of a sudden the bus swerved and then it felt like the driver tried to come back to the road and that made it worse,” Xou Xiong said. “She said as soon as she felt the impact, she flew to the back. That’s all she remembered. She got up and tried to look for my aunt and saw her laying there with another lady on top of her.
“She was shaking her, pulling her hand. She was trying to talk to her and she wasn’t responding,” Xiong said.
Tou Xiong said his mother and aunt had boarded the charter bus nearly every two weeks for the past two years to play at the casino.
“The riding conditions, most of the time they said it was unsafe,” Tou Xiong said. “They say it’s crowded and people sat in the aisles.”
Despite those conditions, Tou Xiong said, “I just think they never expected this to happen.”
Seng Her, the refugee project coordinator at the nonprofit Sacramento Lao Family Community Inc., said family members and adult children of the immigrants had raised concerns in the past about the chartered bus trips to the casino, which they said targeted senior Laotians living in Sacramento.
The bus fare for a day trip to the Colusa Casino Resort was cheap, around $10 at the most, and the casino gave passengers free slot play, according to family members and friends of the passengers.
Pa Phang, 37, whose father-in-law was killed, said she and her husband also discouraged their parents from taking the casino-bound buses.
Authorities identified the dead as bus owner Daniel E. Cobb, 68, of Sacramento and Modesto; and Lou Her, 68; Muang Saephanh, 68; Khou Yang, 67; Meuay Saelee, 74; Fin Saechae, 64; and Ma Vang, 60, all of Sacramento. Family members also identified Xee Vang, 87, of Sacramento.
A man outside a home that is the primary listing for Cobb’s business in Sacramento said the family was not ready to make a statement and declined to comment further.
___
Associated Press writers Juliana Barbassa, Malia Wollan and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco, and Samantha Young and Juliet Williams in Sacramento contributed to this report. AP researchers Monika Mathur and Jennifer Farrar also contributed.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press Writer
WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) _ Quintin Watts had a lengthy criminal record, a history of substance abuse and a string of motor vehicle offenses. Even his mother says he wasn’t a good driver.
Yet on Sunday he was behind the wheel of a busload of senior citizens and Laotian immigrants traveling to an American Indian casino north of Sacramento. Eight people were killed and 30 others injured when the bus, owned by Cobb Transportation, ran into a ditch and overturned.
Now authorities are investigating the possibility that the 52-year-old Stockton man may have been on prescription or nonprescription drugs. He was arrested Monday as he lay critically injured in his hospital bed. His condition had improved to fair, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The accident was at least the eighth serious crash in the U.S. in the last three years involving buses carrying people to and from casinos.
Watts didn’t have the proper license to transport more than 10 people, said Fran Clader, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. Investigators also said the bus had an invalid license plate.
Records show Watts had been cited for speeding and other violations that resulted in the loss of his license for nearly two years. He regained his driving privileges last January.
His mother said he had wrestled with drug and alcohol problems, was jailed several times on drug charges and had smashed a car into a tree a few years ago, though neither he nor a friend who was in the car was seriously hurt.
He was a longtime truck driver, but had been unable to find a trucking job since being released from jail, said his mother, Chaney Mae Watts.
His mother said she believed the crash came on her son’s first day behind the wheel of the bus after several training trips watching the owner — who was killed in Sunday’s crash — drive. She and her husband told their son they were uncomfortable with him driving a vehicle that carried people instead of cargo.
“He wasn’t the best driver,” she said. “He knew we didn’t want him to drive.”
A witness said the bus carrying the driver and 42 passengers to Colusa Casino Resort drifted off a rural two-lane road before the driver “overcorrected” and swerved back. It overturned and rolled completely over, ending up on its wheels facing the opposite direction.
Watts’ criminal record dates back to 1981, when he served state prison time for receiving stolen property. He also served time in 1996 for check fraud and credit card theft. Beginning in 1998, he spent more than a year in prison for possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a destructive device.
His latest state term was for possession of a firearm by an ex-felon. He was paroled in December 2007 after almost six months in prison, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
John Poyner, district attorney for Colusa County, said it will be at least two to three months before the full accident reports are in and any charges are filed. Blood test results are not expected for two to six weeks.
Watts was among eight people injured in the crash who remained hospitalized Tuesday. Families flooded hospitals looking for relatives who may have been involved in the crash.
Yvonne Haynes, 35, of Merced, got a phone call Sunday night from her brother Tou Xiong, 29, saying there had been a bus accident. They started calling hospitals looking for their mother.
Finally, at 3 a.m., the siblings found their mother at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Mai Cha, 74, has a broken rib, face and right wrist. With tubes in her mouth, she cannot speak, said Haynes.
Their aunt also was an injured passenger, 67-year-old Ge Vue of Sacramento. Her son, Xou Xiong, 26, said his mother described the crash to him.
“All of a sudden the bus swerved and then it felt like the driver tried to come back to the road and that made it worse,” Xou Xiong said. “She said as soon as she felt the impact, she flew to the back. That’s all she remembered. She got up and tried to look for my aunt and saw her laying there with another lady on top of her.
“She was shaking her, pulling her hand. She was trying to talk to her and she wasn’t responding,” Xiong said.
Tou Xiong said his mother and aunt had boarded the charter bus nearly every two weeks for the past two years to play at the casino.
“The riding conditions, most of the time they said it was unsafe,” Tou Xiong said. “They say it’s crowded and people sat in the aisles.”
Despite those conditions, Tou Xiong said, “I just think they never expected this to happen.”
Seng Her, the refugee project coordinator at the nonprofit Sacramento Lao Family Community Inc., said family members and adult children of the immigrants had raised concerns in the past about the chartered bus trips to the casino, which they said targeted senior Laotians living in Sacramento.
The bus fare for a day trip to the Colusa Casino Resort was cheap, around $10 at the most, and the casino gave passengers free slot play, according to family members and friends of the passengers.
Pa Phang, 37, whose father-in-law was killed, said she and her husband also discouraged their parents from taking the casino-bound buses.
Authorities identified the dead as bus owner Daniel E. Cobb, 68, of Sacramento and Modesto; and Lou Her, 68; Muang Saephanh, 68; Khou Yang, 67; Meuay Saelee, 74; Fin Saechae, 64; and Ma Vang, 60, all of Sacramento. Family members also identified Xee Vang, 87, of Sacramento.
A man outside a home that is the primary listing for Cobb’s business in Sacramento said the family was not ready to make a statement and declined to comment further.
___
Associated Press writers Juliana Barbassa, Malia Wollan and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco, and Samantha Young and Juliet Williams in Sacramento contributed to this report. AP researchers Monika Mathur and Jennifer Farrar also contributed.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Bus driver in fatal California crash is arrested
Date: 10/6/2008 2:40 PM
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press Writer
WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) _ Police say the driver of a casino-bound charter bus that crashed and killed eight people is in critical condition and faces charges of driving under the influence.
The California Highway Patrol is identifying the driver as 52-year-old Quintin Watts of Stockton. Officers say they’re investigating whether prescription or nonprescription drugs, or alcohol, were involved in Sunday’s crash. They said it could be a combination.
Watts was arrested based on observations a witness made before the crash.
The bus did not have seat belts, the patrol said.
Officers are trying to determine the bus owner, but said based on a preliminary investigation, they’re looking into a company called Cobbs Bus Service.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press Writer
WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) _ Police say the driver of a casino-bound charter bus that crashed and killed eight people is in critical condition and faces charges of driving under the influence.
The California Highway Patrol is identifying the driver as 52-year-old Quintin Watts of Stockton. Officers say they’re investigating whether prescription or nonprescription drugs, or alcohol, were involved in Sunday’s crash. They said it could be a combination.
Watts was arrested based on observations a witness made before the crash.
The bus did not have seat belts, the patrol said.
Officers are trying to determine the bus owner, but said based on a preliminary investigation, they’re looking into a company called Cobbs Bus Service.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.