Los Angeles

Dozens Hospitalized After Bus Rollover on LA Freeway

Four people were listed as being in serious condition.

A bus with 32 passengers onboard rolled over on the Santa Monica Freeway in downtown Los Angeles Saturday morning and 25 passengers were taken to area hospitals.

Officers responded at 4 a.m. to a call of a vehicle hitting attenuators designed to absorb a crash impact and discovered the bus on its side, according to Officer Peter Nicholson with the California Highway Patrol.

Good samaritans and first responders entered the bus and helped passengers exit the wreckage.

Enrique Marcial Jr., who was on the bus when it crashed, was happy to have suffered only minor injuries. "I should be OK. Thank God that I'm alive," he said.

Firefighters transported four people in serious condition, five in fair condition and 16 in good condition, according to Amy Bastman with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Most passengers walked from the bus and seven refused treatment, she said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

"The bus was starting from the Palo Casino and it was headed up to Koreatown, so we're still under investigation as to whether that driver did fall asleep and what caused him to lose control of the bus," CHP Officer Roberto Gomez said.

A SigAlert was in place for an unknown duration for the westbound lanes of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway at the Harbor (110) Freeway connector, Nicholson said. Lanes reopened around 9:30 a.m.

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