SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police say the driver of a car that crashed into a VIA Metropolitan bus Wednesday morning was traveling on the wrong side of the road at the time.
The compact car hit the bus head-on in the middle of Wurzbach Road, not far from Evers Road, after 5:30 a.m.
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The bus was carrying four passengers at the time, according to Lorraine Pulido, a spokesperson for VIA.
Pulido says all of the passengers suffered minor injuries and were checked out at the scene before being released.
She said the bus driver had to be treated by EMS, also for minor injuries.
The car driver, meanwhile, suffered more serious injuries and was taken to a hospital by ambulance.
Roger Saenz says he was sitting near a window on the bus and suddenly was slammed up against a metal bar.
“I had nothing to hold (onto), and I just slipped and hurt my knee,” he said.
Saenz was left with a bit of a limp, but he said he was grateful he wasn’t hurt more seriously.
He said from his seat, he could see trouble coming in the form of that car, which was on the wrong side of the road.
“He was driving crazy and he was passing all the cars,” Saenz said. “He couldn’t stop and the bus couldn’t stop.”
The two vehicles came together in a violent collision.
Police say the bus driver had swerved to one side in an attempt to avoid the crash.
The car ended up on the other side, in a mangled pile of metal.
“The car was twisted that way and the motor blew out and caught on fire,” Saenz said.
Officers at the scene said it appeared that the car driver was trying to go around traffic on his side of the road when he headed into oncoming traffic.
Because of a concrete median in the middle of the street, he was not able to go back to his side of the road as the bus approached him, police said.
They said it did not appear that alcohol was involved.
Police could not say at the time whether the car driver would face any charges.