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sarNie Adult
***********i know that there are buses in sacramento that picks up lots of hmong people to the casinos
i always see them waiting out on 24th and meadowview and at the mcdonalds parking lot on pocket road...
i don't know if it was this bus..
but RIP to all of those who passed away
and best wishes to all those who are in critical conditions..
this is tragic... ********************
click here for the full article and pictures of the crash...
Driver in fatal bus crash arrested on DUI charges
By Niesha Lofing, Andy Furillo and Sam Stanton - afurillo@sacbee.com
Last Updated 9:44 am PDT Monday, October 6, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A12
The driver of a bus that crashed Sunday, killing eight people and injuring dozens more, was driving under the influence, the California Highway Patrol said.
Quienten Joey Watts, 52, of Stockton, is in critical condition in Woodland Memorial Hospital, one of 35 people authorities say were hurt in the crash of a bus that was traveling from Sacramento to the Colusa Casino, a gaming establishment in rural Colusa County, near Williams.
Watts was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, said CHP Sgt. Brian Donnelly. It is unclear whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he said.
He will be jailed upon his release from the hospital, he said.
Watts was arrested based on observations a witness made before the crash, Donnelly said.
"He was driving erratically," he said. "The bus basically veered off the road for no reason."
Watts' driver's license is valid, but the paperwork on the bus is not, Donnelly said.
An investigation into the bus, owned by Daniel E. Cobb Sr., 68, of Sacramento, continues today, he said.
CHP Special Officer Robert B. Kays said at the crash scene early today that the bus had Texas license plates and had an invalid registration. The muddled registration information impeded the CHP in determining the bus' owner before Cobb was identified.
Cobb owns Beeline Tours, on Franklin Boulevard, and Cobbs Bus Service, a limited liability company on Den Avenue, public records show.
Cobbs Bus Service has a legal filing in the California Secretary of State's office from September 2006 for a "dishonored check," public records show.
On Thursday, Cobb posted an ad on a free local classified advertising Web site seeking a charter bus driver.
"Charter Bus Driver position available, works is full or part-time. The business is within a 100 mile radius, only duties required is driving," the ad on http://sacramento.kijiji.com states.
When The Bee attempted to call the number posted, a message on the voicemail said that Cobb's inbox was full.
Wreckage was cleared from the crash site at 5:35 a.m. today, opening Lone Star Lane, a two-lane road that is a favorite shortcut from Interstate 5 to the casino.
The bus was full of Laotian Hmong heading to Colusa Casino Resort, Sgt. Donnelly said.
Authorities have identified several of the eight people who died, but cannot yet release their identities, he said.
About two-thirds of the crash victims had to be rescued from the bus.
Many had cuts, broken bones and internal injuries, he said.
"They were just basically beat up from the wreck itself," he said. "There was a lot of metal debris and glass."
Donnelly said Colusa County is no stranger to bad car crashes, but Sunday's bus crash was horrific.
"It was, by far, the worst I have ever seen," he said.
Don Kennedy, marketing director at Colusa Casino Resort, said the casino was not expecting the bus Sunday.
Casino officials said in a written statement that the bus involved in the crash "was not scheduled to bring guests to our facility."
"The Colusa Casino Resort is stunned and saddened by this tragic bus accident that has resulted in several deaths and serious injuries to people who were coming to our facility," the news release states. "Our prayers and sympathy go out to all of the passengers, their families and anyone else who may have been affected by this accident."
The single-vehicle accident sparked a massive emergency response from Sacramento to Chico, with hospitals, fire departments and other officials racing to the scene of the crash in Colusa County.
The crash occurred at 6:10 p.m. on Lone Star Road, a two-lane road fronted by a water-filled ditch. The road is a popular shortcut for motorists headed to the casino, and the crash site is about six miles from Williams and four miles from Colusa.
Kays gave this account of the crash based on witness statements: "The eyewitness that observed the crash said it went off the right shoulder, over-corrected, and you've got all that weight shifting on the bus, and it wound up going across the highway, flipping and overturning so it was facing in the wrong direction from the canal there, from the original direction it was going."
No other vehicles were thought to have been involved, and the accident occurred before darkness fell on the area, which is largely rice fields and farmland.
Disaster response plans were put into effect throughout the region, and by 10 p.m. at least eight hospitals were receiving patients from the crash.
Watts is one of four patients from the crash receiving treatment at Woodland Memorial. The hospital originally received six crash victims, but one has been transferred to another hospital and another has been released, said Lourdes Edralin, a hospital spokeswoman.
Laura Hennum, a spokeswoman at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, said her hospital had received 10 patients – four in critical condition and two in serious condition, plus four who had yet to be evaluated.
Other hospitals helping included the UC Davis Medical Center, Sutter Roseville, Woodland Memorial, a hospital in Marysville, another in Oroville and Mercy San Juan Medical Center.
At the scene, the bus sat aside the ditch with generator-powered lights shining on the area, dozens of firefighting and rescue trucks and helicopters overhead.
At least nine rescue helicopters had been called to the scene, and authorities said dozens of hospital workers had been called in to help in various medical centers.
Authorities said they had trouble determining what happened during the crash because many of the victims apparently spoke Laotian.
"We've had a difficulty with the language barrier," said CHP Dispatcher Brenda Houck.
Houck said an interpreter from Chico had been called in to assist.
********* credit to sacbee.com***************
i always see them waiting out on 24th and meadowview and at the mcdonalds parking lot on pocket road...
i don't know if it was this bus..
but RIP to all of those who passed away
and best wishes to all those who are in critical conditions..
this is tragic... ********************
click here for the full article and pictures of the crash...
Driver in fatal bus crash arrested on DUI charges
By Niesha Lofing, Andy Furillo and Sam Stanton - afurillo@sacbee.com
Last Updated 9:44 am PDT Monday, October 6, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A12
The driver of a bus that crashed Sunday, killing eight people and injuring dozens more, was driving under the influence, the California Highway Patrol said.
Quienten Joey Watts, 52, of Stockton, is in critical condition in Woodland Memorial Hospital, one of 35 people authorities say were hurt in the crash of a bus that was traveling from Sacramento to the Colusa Casino, a gaming establishment in rural Colusa County, near Williams.
Watts was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, said CHP Sgt. Brian Donnelly. It is unclear whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, he said.
He will be jailed upon his release from the hospital, he said.
Watts was arrested based on observations a witness made before the crash, Donnelly said.
"He was driving erratically," he said. "The bus basically veered off the road for no reason."
Watts' driver's license is valid, but the paperwork on the bus is not, Donnelly said.
An investigation into the bus, owned by Daniel E. Cobb Sr., 68, of Sacramento, continues today, he said.
CHP Special Officer Robert B. Kays said at the crash scene early today that the bus had Texas license plates and had an invalid registration. The muddled registration information impeded the CHP in determining the bus' owner before Cobb was identified.
Cobb owns Beeline Tours, on Franklin Boulevard, and Cobbs Bus Service, a limited liability company on Den Avenue, public records show.
Cobbs Bus Service has a legal filing in the California Secretary of State's office from September 2006 for a "dishonored check," public records show.
On Thursday, Cobb posted an ad on a free local classified advertising Web site seeking a charter bus driver.
"Charter Bus Driver position available, works is full or part-time. The business is within a 100 mile radius, only duties required is driving," the ad on http://sacramento.kijiji.com states.
When The Bee attempted to call the number posted, a message on the voicemail said that Cobb's inbox was full.
Wreckage was cleared from the crash site at 5:35 a.m. today, opening Lone Star Lane, a two-lane road that is a favorite shortcut from Interstate 5 to the casino.
The bus was full of Laotian Hmong heading to Colusa Casino Resort, Sgt. Donnelly said.
Authorities have identified several of the eight people who died, but cannot yet release their identities, he said.
About two-thirds of the crash victims had to be rescued from the bus.
Many had cuts, broken bones and internal injuries, he said.
"They were just basically beat up from the wreck itself," he said. "There was a lot of metal debris and glass."
Donnelly said Colusa County is no stranger to bad car crashes, but Sunday's bus crash was horrific.
"It was, by far, the worst I have ever seen," he said.
Don Kennedy, marketing director at Colusa Casino Resort, said the casino was not expecting the bus Sunday.
Casino officials said in a written statement that the bus involved in the crash "was not scheduled to bring guests to our facility."
"The Colusa Casino Resort is stunned and saddened by this tragic bus accident that has resulted in several deaths and serious injuries to people who were coming to our facility," the news release states. "Our prayers and sympathy go out to all of the passengers, their families and anyone else who may have been affected by this accident."
The single-vehicle accident sparked a massive emergency response from Sacramento to Chico, with hospitals, fire departments and other officials racing to the scene of the crash in Colusa County.
The crash occurred at 6:10 p.m. on Lone Star Road, a two-lane road fronted by a water-filled ditch. The road is a popular shortcut for motorists headed to the casino, and the crash site is about six miles from Williams and four miles from Colusa.
Kays gave this account of the crash based on witness statements: "The eyewitness that observed the crash said it went off the right shoulder, over-corrected, and you've got all that weight shifting on the bus, and it wound up going across the highway, flipping and overturning so it was facing in the wrong direction from the canal there, from the original direction it was going."
No other vehicles were thought to have been involved, and the accident occurred before darkness fell on the area, which is largely rice fields and farmland.
Disaster response plans were put into effect throughout the region, and by 10 p.m. at least eight hospitals were receiving patients from the crash.
Watts is one of four patients from the crash receiving treatment at Woodland Memorial. The hospital originally received six crash victims, but one has been transferred to another hospital and another has been released, said Lourdes Edralin, a hospital spokeswoman.
Laura Hennum, a spokeswoman at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, said her hospital had received 10 patients – four in critical condition and two in serious condition, plus four who had yet to be evaluated.
Other hospitals helping included the UC Davis Medical Center, Sutter Roseville, Woodland Memorial, a hospital in Marysville, another in Oroville and Mercy San Juan Medical Center.
At the scene, the bus sat aside the ditch with generator-powered lights shining on the area, dozens of firefighting and rescue trucks and helicopters overhead.
At least nine rescue helicopters had been called to the scene, and authorities said dozens of hospital workers had been called in to help in various medical centers.
Authorities said they had trouble determining what happened during the crash because many of the victims apparently spoke Laotian.
"We've had a difficulty with the language barrier," said CHP Dispatcher Brenda Houck.
Houck said an interpreter from Chico had been called in to assist.
********* credit to sacbee.com***************
