Police arrested the driver of a pickup truck that slammed into an OCTA bus in Anaheim on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs on Thursday, Jan. 24.
The collision sent 15 people to a nearby hospital with minor and moderate injuries, according to Anaheim Police Sgt. Jeff Mundy.
He said the driver and one other occupant of a Chevy Silverado involved in the collision near the intersection of Katella Avenue and Douglass Road were among those hurt.
UPDATE Katella/Douglass #crash – vehicle exiting NB 57 collided with OCTA bus. Several transported for moderate injuries, nothing life threatening. Prior report of someone pinned under a car is false.
— Anaheim PD (@AnaheimPD) January 24, 2019
Firefighters had to rescue at least one person from the cabin of the truck and wheel them away from the mouth of the Northbound 57 freeway off-ramp on Katella Avenue with a stretcher. A motorist exiting the highway struck an Orange County Transit Authority bus as it was passing by at about 3 p.m., said Mundy.
The impact crumpled the pickup’s front end. The bus sustained damage to its rear passenger-side wheel-well. Broken glass, kitchen utensils, a half-full tub of peanut butter and other debris littered the street surrounding the Silverado as investigators examined the scene of the crash.
Mundy said investigators were unable to perform a field sobriety test, but they suspect the 29-year-old Indiana woman who was behind the wheel of the car may have been on drugs at the time of the crash. He said she was arrested Thursday evening on suspicion of felony driving under the influence. The suspect was recovering from her injuries in a hospital Thursday evening, and her identity was not immediately released.
Police diverted cars travelling east on Katella Avenue toward the site of the crash onto the southbound 57 freeway at East Howell Avenue Thursday evening. Traffic was backed up as far as State College Boulevard. Officials reopened the blocked off portion of the street shortly after 6 p.m., said Mundy.
