The Dallas Morning News
SANGER, Texas — Firefighter Brad Bell expected a chaotic scene as he pried open the doors of the wrecked bus.
“It was kind of eerily calm. No babies crying, no women screaming,” said Bell, a Sanger firefighter. “Everybody was pretty much sitting calmly in their seats.”
More than 30 people were on board when the northbound El Conejo passenger bus headed to Oklahoma City from Dallas crashed into the concrete highway divider on Interstate 35 just north of Sanger in Denton County. Investigators think the driver’s medical condition may have caused him to lose control and veer off the roadway about midnight Friday, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Lonny Haschel said.
Investigators had previously thought that the driver, Jose Rodriguez of Grand Prairie, swerved to avoid a motorist who cut him off. But because the driver spoke little English officers at the scene were unable to get a clear picture of the events leading up to the crash.
Haschel said it wasn’t until troopers later interviewed Rodriguez at the hospital that they learned of the driver’s medical condition.
Although 18 were hurt, with injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones, the midnight accident could have been deadly.
“It could’ve been a lot worse. It could’ve been really bad if there hadn’t been that concrete divider in the middle of the highway,” Bell said.
A fleet of ambulances ferried 17 victims to two Denton hospitals. Another man with a broken hip was taken by air ambulance to Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth.
None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
The impact of the bus hitting the barrier at about 60 mph shattered the front windshield and ejected three people through passenger windows.
“When he hit that, the impact caused the injuries,” Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Lonny Haschel said.
Some passengers suffered broken bones and reported chest pains. A 9-year-old girl had a broken arm. Most were taken to area hospitals as a precaution.
A school bus carried the uninjured passengers from the crash site to a Sanger church, where they waited for another El Conejo bus to carry them the rest of the way to Oklahoma City and then to Little Rock, Ark.
The northbound lanes of the highway remained shut down until about 4 a.m. as officers investigated and crews cleaned up the wreckage.
Authorities said Renacimiento LLC owns the bus. An employee who answered the phone at the Dallas office said all the passengers were OK but declined to comment further.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the federal agency that monitors and licenses commercial bus operators, Renacimiento has not reported a crash in the last two years. A February review showed that the company had a satisfactory safety rating, the highest rating it could receive.
An inspection of the bus by officers on Saturday revealed no flaws.
The focus is now on whether the driver was impaired by his medical condition. Haschel said that anyone with a commercial driver’s license must pass a medical and physical examination. Authorities are looking into whether Rodriguez passed that test.
Copyright 2010 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS