GILROY
– A local school bus carrying learning-disabled children was
broadsided by a semi truck Thursday morning after the bus driver
reportedly ran a red light, according to the California Highway
Patrol.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – A local school bus carrying learning-disabled children was broadsided by a semi truck Thursday morning after the bus driver reportedly ran a red light, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A 5-year-old girl, one of the eight children on board the bus, complained of head pain after the accident, according to the CHP. One of her parents took her to their family doctor, and she was later found to have no injuries, according to Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent for administrative services for the Gilroy Unified School District.
The GUSD official who followed up on the girl’s condition told Brinkman it was a “Christmas miracle” that she wasn’t worse off.
“Fortunately we had a great bus, and it took the blow, and no one was hurt,” Brinkman said.
Both CHP and officials declined to identify the child.
The collision took place at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday on Tenth Street at U.S. 101. An eyewitness reported seeing the bus run the red light immediately before the collision, according to the CHP. The bus driver was Patricia Castro, 60, of Gilroy.
Timothy Packard, 36, of Oakland, was driving the big rig. He exited U.S. 101 southbound at Tenth Street, waited at the stoplight and, when the light turned green, started turning left onto eastbound Tenth Street, where it becomes Pacheco Pass Highway. His truck struck the eastbound school bus in the middle of the intersection.
CHP is still investigating the incident and has yet to issue any citation.
Brinkman and GUSD Superintendent Edwin Diaz said the district will wait until CHP issues its report before taking any action on the matter.
“It’s my understanding that the CHP report won’t be available for another five to 10 days,” Diaz said Friday.
Brinkman would not discuss what the district would do if the police report accuses Castro of running the red light, calling the timing “premature.”
Diaz said he didn’t remember any school bus accident with injury happening in the four years he’s been with the GUSD.
The bus was bound to the students’ school outside Gilroy. All the children on the bus live inside the GUSD but go to school elsewhere because the district cannot meet their special needs.
