DON KOHLBAUER / Union-Tribune
San Diego firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers and paramedics tended to students after a school bus overturned on northbound Interstate 5 yesterday morning.
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One minute, they were a busload of mostly inner-city San Diego students talking, listening to CDs or reading "The Diary of Anne Frank" on their way to another day of high-level learning at their La Jolla charter school.
Suddenly, they became human pinballs as their 90-passenger school bus swerved, rolled onto its side and slammed nose-first into an embankment yesterday morning on Interstate 5 in Clairemont.
Thirty-six of the 41 students on board, ranging in age from 11 to 16, suffered minor to moderate injuries, according to the California Highway Patrol and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
"I held onto the seat as long as I could. Two kids were on top of me," said one of the students, Erica Chavez. "I saw some blood on the wall and thought it was mine."
The bus came to rest on its left side, its windshield shoved into the embankment and its rear end protruding into two northbound traffic lanes, south of the Genesee Avenue off-ramp.
Students used the rear emergency door and a pair of escape hatches built into the bus roof to climb out of the vehicle, leaving behind backpacks, notebooks, clothing and shoes. The CHP and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department counted 41 students who were on board.
The children attend The Preuss School UCSD, a public charter school on the University of California San Diego campus for students in grades 6 through 12.
At about 8:35 a.m., the bus was traveling about 50 mph in the No. 4 lane, about a quarter-mile south of Genesee Avenue when the driver slammed on his brakes to avoid traffic that had stopped in front of him, CHP Officer Mark Gregg said.
The driver, identified as Faustino Espinoza, 50, of San Ysidro, told CHP investigators that when he braked, the bus lurched to the right, rolled onto its left side and plowed into the embankment.
Espinoza was not cited. He submitted a blood sample to determine whether he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"We have no reason to believe that was a factor in the collision," Gregg said.
The CHP said it could take a month to determine if a mechanical defect played a role in the crash.
Ambulances took the injured children to hospitals in La Jolla and Encinitas. Some were treated for broken bones. Others were given CAT scans to check for internal damage. At least three were transferred to Children's Hospital.
None of the injuries was considered serious, the CHP said.
Ricardo Gil, an eighth-grader, said he was talking with friends when the bus went into its roll. He made his way out through the rear emergency exit, suffering from a bruised back.
"Some of the students were traumatized. Some were calling to their brothers and sisters on the bus," he said. "I borrowed a friend's cell phone and called my mom."
Gil's mother, Marta, said she remembered every word of that call.
"He said, 'Mom, the bus turned over, but I'm OK. I'm going to the hospital and I want to see you.' "
Emergency room physicians praised the students' demeanor at the hospitals.
"The kids were brave, but they were scared to death," said Dr. Brent Eastman, medical director at Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla, where several of the injured were taken. One student suffered a broken clavicle, Eastman said.
Traffic on I-5 and nearby roads slowed to a crawl as emergency crews responded from across the city. At least 10 fire engines, 19 ambulances and 40 San Diego Police Department traffic units responded, authorities said.
San Diego police closed access to northbound I-5 from Clairemont Drive to La Jolla Village Drive, Sgt. Pat McClarney said. Most of the on-ramps reopened a short time later, but traffic was diverted onto eastbound state Route 52 until about 11 a.m., McClarney said. All northbound lanes on I-5 reopened at 12:15 p.m., the CHP said.
The bus was operated under contract with the school district by First Student Inc., the Cincinnati-based branch of First Group Plc, a multinational public transportation firm based in Britain that operates buses, trains and freight service.
First Student is one of two companies that provide transportation for students in San Diego city schools, district transportation director Alexandra Robinson said. The other is Coach USA.
Espinoza had been driving for the company for about a year, Gregg of the CHP said.
Staff writers Mark Arner, Brian Hazle, Maureen Magee and James Steinberg contributed to this report.
Greg Gross: (619) 498-6632; greg.gross@uniontrib.com
