Driver charged in fatal Livingston bus crash denies responsibility, reports show

Moments after the white tour bus he was driving on Highway 99 near Livingston crashed into a steel pole and tore through the bus last August, Mario David Vasquez got off the bus and began yelling, “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault,” before he stepped into the right lane of the freeway and was hit by a car, according to reports from investigators.

In the newly released report, survivors of the fatal bus crash that killed four people told investigators Vasquez was speeding and in a rush in the hours before the deadly incident. In interviews, multiple passengers told California Highway Patrol investigators they believed Vasquez was driving between 70-80 mph, weaving through traffic and passing cars, and rushing passengers who boarded the bus in Goshen, Earlimart and Fresno.

Vasquez made his first appearance in Merced Superior Court on Wednesday morning. Vasquez’s attorney, Jessica Rico with the law office Abogado Unidos based in Van Nuys, asked Commissioner Jeanne Schechter to postpone his arraignment to a later date, where bail and probation terms will be discussed. Vasquez will return to court next month and surrender his expired passport. Schechter ordered Vasquez not to drive in the meantime.

Vasquez is charged with four counts of vehicular manslaughter and five counts of misdemeanor vehicle code violation.

Rico declined to comment after the hearing.

“This was a very involved investigation. A lot of attention to detail was paid, so it did take a considerable amount of time,” said Nicole Silveira, the supervising deputy district attorney on the case.

Silveira said the speeding, fatigue and cellphone use by Vasquez did not meet the “greater standard of care” he owed his passengers.

Vasquez, now 58, told investigators in November 2016 that he believed the crash was not his fault and he wanted to tell the truth, according to a CHP report more than 350 pages long. Vasquez believes the rear shock of the bus broke and hit the wheel drum, causing the bus to swerve to the right off the road. Vasquez said he couldn’t steer the bus back to the left, and he applied the brakes but the bus didn’t stop, the report says.

But, the CHP report found the bus had no pre-existing mechanical issues at the time of the crash. Instead, investigators said Vasquez was fatigued, causing him to make an unsafe turning movement. The cause of the crash was determined through statements, vehicle damage, physical evidence, injuries, the position in which the bus came to rest and other analysis, according to the reports.

Vasquez didn’t remember yelling “It’s not my fault” or being hit by the car. He told investigators he was depressed since the crash since he wasn’t working and is the sole provider for his two children. His wife died just two months before the crash. After the crash, he underwent surgery above his left eye, felt confused and takes Norco for back pain, the reports say.

For three decades, Vasquez made his living driving bus for various companies. He began driving in 1987 in El Salvador before moving to Los Angeles, where he took night classes to learn English. Vasquez began working for Estrella Blanca in 2008 or 2009. The company owned the bus he drove Aug. 2, 2016 and used other names, such as Autobuses Coordinados USA, Inc., according to reports.

The CHP report notes 12 convictions on Vasquez’s driving record from 1997 to 2015. At least four violations were speed related. The report also notes that Vasquez took a 30-second phone call about 10 minutes before the crash.

Vasquez had been driving nearly eight hours at the time of the crash and likely slept fewer than five hours before his shift, the report found.

Many passengers said Vasquez looked tired when they boarded. Many noted Vasquez rushed them onto the bus and said he was behind schedule.

David Christopher Delgadillo Morales, who was picked up in Goshen, said he was not yet seated when the bus abruptly took off. Morales was asleep at the time of the crash and was shaken awake by the impact. He remembered dirt enveloping the inside of the bus and the initial silence. Then he saw the seats in front of him “bunch up” and “begin to crush people in front of him,” the report said.

Another passenger, Victor Hernandez Santos, was picked up at a gas station near Fresno State about an hour before the crash. After the crash, he heard the other passengers yelling and screaming and noticed a man in the seat across from him was limp as if he had passed away. Another man was screaming that he was stuck. When he tried to get out of the bus, he noticed his legs were stuck from metal underneath the seats. Santos told investigators that he asked first responders to use their chain saw to free his leg, even if they had to cut his foot.

Giovanna Vazquez Martinez said she saw the freeway pole coming toward her through the bus, crushing the bus seats and the people sitting in them. She heard and felt a man near her, but couldn’t see his face. She held the man’s hand and prayed with him as they waited for nearly two hours for emergency crews to reach them and get them out of the bus.

The report noted that the owner of the bus company, Autobuses Coordinados USA, Inc. referred investigators to a local mechanic in Fresno, but the mechanic denied doing any repairs or maintenance on the buses. The mechanic said he allowed the buses to be inspected by Department of Transportation inspectors at his facility.

Autobuses Coordinados USA Inc., the company that owned the bus, went out of service two months after the crash, Department of Transportation records show.

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Driver charged in fatal Livingston bus crash denies responsibility, reports show."