California Highway Patrol officials said Thursday they have completed their investigation into the fiery crash between a FedEx truck and a bus carrying dozens of Los Angeles-area high school students to Humboldt State University for a campus tour.
Chief Ruben Leal, commander of the CHP’s Northern Division, along with Assistant Chief Roy Kramer, Lt. Scott Fredrick and Sgt. Nathan Parsons plan to hold a news conference Friday afternoon at the Hacienda Heights Community Center to release the of the probe.
Ten people died in the April 10, 2014, crash that occurred in Orland. The Silverado Stages tour bus carrying the students and chaperones was being driven north on Interstate 5 when it was struck by a southbound FedEx big rig whose driver veered off the freeway and crossed a lengthy grass median. The truck struck a Nissan Altima before plowing into the tour bus, which burst into flames.
Among the dead were the drivers of both vehicles and five students. In addition to the 10 people who died, 39 others were injured.
Those killed in the crash were:
— Michael Myvett and Mattison Haywood, who were serving as chaperones on the trip and had gotten engaged during a December 2013 trip to Paris;
— Denise Gomez and Ismael Jimenez, the reigning homecoming queen and king at Animo Charter High School in Inglewood;
— Jennifer Bonilla, a Los Angeles Dorsey High School honor student who had won a college scholarship and was considered a campus leader by school administrators;
— Adrian Castro, a popular El Monte High School football player who fellow students referred to as a positive role model;
— Marisa Serrato, a church-going student at Norte Vista High School in Riverside, and whose identical twin, Marisol, made the trip on a different bus and was not injured;
— bus driver Talalelei Lealao-Taiao;
— chaperone Arthur Arzola, 26, of Rancho Cucamonga, who was a college recruiter helping to lead the excursion to Humboldt State; and
— FedEx truck driver Tim Evans, 32, a lifelong resident of the Sacramento area who had married his high school sweetheart, fathered two daughters and helped coach their soccer and softball teams.
— City News Service