Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Out-of-Control Truck Sets Off Bus-Car Crash; 32 Injured [Video]

Firefighters rescue woman driver of car that collided with bus. She, girl passenger and as many as 30 on bus are hospitalized.

UPDATE 1:26 p.m.: A dump truck that apparently lost its brakes and rolled down a hill collided with an Metro bus Tuesday morning in Hollywood, sending the bus into a head-on collision with a BMW sedan, injuring as many as 32 people, authorities said.

The incident occurred around 8 a.m. in the 7600 block of West Hollywood Boulevard, between the intersections of North Stanley and Courtney avenues.

Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo said an unoccupied dump truck had been parked north of West Holllywood Boulevard on North Stanley Avenue. The truck rolled downhill and t-boned with a Metro bus traveling westbound on Hollywood Boulevard.

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The collision sent the bus into the eastbound lanes, where it slammed head-on into a silver BMW sedan with a female driver and her 10-year-old daughter who was in the passenger seat.

The driver, who was pinned in the vehicle for about 20 minutes, had to be extricated through the roof by Los Angeles Fire Department personnel. She was taken to a hospital with serious but apparently non-life-threatening injuries, said LAFD Battalion Chief Jeff Elder. The girl, who was able to remove herself from the car, was taken to a trauma center as a precaution, Elder said.

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When firefighters first arrived on the scene, the front of the bus was in the face of the BMW driver, and firefighters had to pull the car out from under the bus, Elder said. The impact caused the side doors of the car to pop open, allowing the girl to get out on her own, he said.

About 32 people were taken to the hospital for injuries. As many as 30 on the bus were taken the hospital, they were reported with minor injuries, said LAFD spokesman Brian Humphries.

Fitness instructor Aric Roman, who was on his way to teach a fitness class at nearby Wattles Park, said he heard the crash.

"It sounded like an explosion and then the first helicopter came," Roman said.

Traffic was closed between Curson Avenue and Genesse Avenue. The Los Angeles Police Department and Metro are investigating the crash.

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