Suspected toasted driver in a near head-on collision with Navajo Transit Bus
A Navajo police officer photographs a car that was involved in an accident with a Navajo Transit bus Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M., which is about fifteen miles north of Gallup on U.S. Highway 491. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., witnessed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., stands next to the bus he was driving when he got into an accident with a car Friday morning on U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one in Twin Lakes, N.M. According to Brooks, who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., spotted the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
Rick Hoskie, 53, was sitting in the 2nd row of the Navajo Transit Bus that was struck by a suspected tipsy driver Friday morning on U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one near mile marker 16.
Hoskie, who rails the Route fourteen transit from Newcomb, N.M. to work in Window Rock, remembers waking up from his nap to a passenger screaming at the black car that sideswiped the right side of the bus.
“I was kicking back. My eyes were closed,” Hoskie said, while recounting the seven a.m. accident from his desk at the Navajo Nation Retirement Services Department.
“All of a unexpected, I heard someone scream,” he added. “A lady was screaming and looking forward. I witnessed a petite black car. It was in our lane.”
According to Hoskie, if bus driver Stanley Brooks, Jr., didn’t veer left to avoid the female driver in the black car, the bus would have went head-on and possibly drove over the car.
“The vehicle that came at us had no skid marks. It didn’t attempt to stop,” Hoskie said.
The black car, which was basically smashed like an aluminum soda can, had caused the bus to slide across the highway, before it landed in the filth off the highway’s shoulder.
Once the bus came to a halt, Hoskie remembers others in the bus, telling, “Don’t budge. Don’t stir.”
He was one of the very first passengers to dial nine hundred eleven for help, adding that he and the eighteen passengers on the bus had to essentially crawl out of the bus.
Hoskie also reportedly checked on the driver of the black car, who he said had suffered from cuts and welts and was “OK.” Her car was located on the west side of the highway.
“It was a youthfull lady,” Hoskie said of the driver of the black car, noting that the harm to her car told a different story. “She was OK. She just said her arm hurt.”
Traffic along U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one waits as police and emergency personnel work on a scene of an accident involving a Navajo Transit bus and a car Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., eyed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
From his talk with very first responders, tribal, county and state police, and construction crewmembers that are working to expand the highway into four-lanes, Hoskie learned that the driver had been intoxicated.
A tribal official familiar with the accident details confirmed that the driver is suspected of driving while intoxicated and proceeds to investigate.
According to Brooks, who drives Route fourteen inbetween Window Rock and Shiprock, he noticed the vehicle proceeding into the transit’s lane.
“That’s when I made the decision to slow down,” Brooks said, adding that he determined to make a left but the vehicle turned again toward the bus and he then veered back to the right.
A Navajo Nation police officer investigates a Navajo Transit bus that was involved in an accident with a car, left, Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M. on U.S. Highway 491. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., spotted the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
When the driver proceeded to go toward the bus, that’s when Brooks veered back to the left – causing passengers to “fly around” in the bus, according to Brooks.
“Everyone screamed because we thought the bus was going to peak over on the side but it came back on its fours and that’s when everybody fell back to the right side,” Brooks said.
Brooks, who said he was shaken up, said that he was going to the health clinic later in the day to get checked out for any injuries, if at all, after processing paperwork about the accident.
Several injured passengers were taken by ambulance to the Gallup Indian Medical Center and those uninjured like Hoskie reportedly went back to work in Window Rock by another transit bus.
Jeremiah Herrera, District six project manager for the Fresh Mexico Department of Transportation, said the site of the accident is part of the active construction zone of the highway.
“Right now we have all measures up for construction planning,” he said, adding that his team at 11:11 a.m. was working toward removing the bruised car and bus off the highway.
Harrison Smith, acting manager for the Navajo Transit System, said A-1 Towing, of Farmington, would tow the passenger bus back to Fort Defiance to the Navajo Transit System Shop.
Navajo Nation Police, McKinley County Sheriffs Deputies and Fresh Mexico State Police were on the scene, along with the Navajo Estates Volunteer Fire Department.
To read the total article, pick up your copy of the Navajo Times at your nearest newsstand Thursday mornings!
Suspected inebriated driver in a near head-on collision with Navajo Transit Bus – Navajo Times
Suspected buzzed driver in a near head-on collision with Navajo Transit Bus
A Navajo police officer photographs a car that was involved in an accident with a Navajo Transit bus Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M., which is about fifteen miles north of Gallup on U.S. Highway 491. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., witnessed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., stands next to the bus he was driving when he got into an accident with a car Friday morning on U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one in Twin Lakes, N.M. According to Brooks, who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., witnessed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
Rick Hoskie, 53, was sitting in the 2nd row of the Navajo Transit Bus that was struck by a suspected buzzed driver Friday morning on U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one near mile marker 16.
Hoskie, who rails the Route fourteen transit from Newcomb, N.M. to work in Window Rock, remembers waking up from his nap to a passenger screaming at the black car that sideswiped the right side of the bus.
“I was kicking back. My eyes were closed,” Hoskie said, while recounting the seven a.m. accident from his desk at the Navajo Nation Retirement Services Department.
“All of a unexpected, I heard someone scream,” he added. “A lady was screaming and looking forward. I eyed a petite black car. It was in our lane.”
According to Hoskie, if bus driver Stanley Brooks, Jr., didn’t veer left to avoid the female driver in the black car, the bus would have went head-on and possibly drove over the car.
“The vehicle that came at us had no skid marks. It didn’t attempt to stop,” Hoskie said.
The black car, which was basically smashed like an aluminum soda can, had caused the bus to slide across the highway, before it landed in the mud off the highway’s shoulder.
Once the bus came to a halt, Hoskie remembers others in the bus, telling, “Don’t budge. Don’t budge.”
He was one of the very first passengers to dial nine hundred eleven for help, adding that he and the eighteen passengers on the bus had to essentially crawl out of the bus.
Hoskie also reportedly checked on the driver of the black car, who he said had suffered from cuts and injuries and was “OK.” Her car was located on the west side of the highway.
“It was a youthfull lady,” Hoskie said of the driver of the black car, noting that the harm to her car told a different story. “She was OK. She just said her arm hurt.”
Traffic along U.S. Highway four hundred ninety one waits as police and emergency personnel work on a scene of an accident involving a Navajo Transit bus and a car Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., witnessed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
From his talk with very first responders, tribal, county and state police, and construction crewmembers that are working to expand the highway into four-lanes, Hoskie learned that the driver had been intoxicated.
A tribal official familiar with the accident details confirmed that the driver is suspected of driving while intoxicated and resumes to investigate.
According to Brooks, who drives Route fourteen inbetween Window Rock and Shiprock, he noticed the vehicle proceeding into the transit’s lane.
“That’s when I made the decision to slow down,” Brooks said, adding that he determined to make a left but the vehicle turned again toward the bus and he then veered back to the right.
A Navajo Nation police officer investigates a Navajo Transit bus that was involved in an accident with a car, left, Friday morning in Twin Lakes, N.M. on U.S. Highway 491. According to Navajo Transit bus driver Stanley Brooks Jr., who was driving the bus south from Tohatchi, N.M., witnessed the car veer into his lane and was not able to avoid a collision. The driver of the car, a female, and several occupants of the bus were taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center for injuries in the accident. Police proceed with their investigation. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
When the driver proceeded to go toward the bus, that’s when Brooks veered back to the left – causing passengers to “fly around” in the bus, according to Brooks.
“Everyone screamed because we thought the bus was going to peak over on the side but it came back on its fours and that’s when everybody fell back to the right side,” Brooks said.
Brooks, who said he was shaken up, said that he was going to the health clinic later in the day to get checked out for any injuries, if at all, after processing paperwork about the accident.
Several injured passengers were taken by ambulance to the Gallup Indian Medical Center and those uninjured like Hoskie reportedly went back to work in Window Rock by another transit bus.
Jeremiah Herrera, District six project manager for the Fresh Mexico Department of Transportation, said the site of the accident is part of the active construction zone of the highway.
“Right now we have all measures up for construction planning,” he said, adding that his squad at 11:11 a.m. was working toward removing the bruised car and bus off the highway.
Harrison Smith, acting manager for the Navajo Transit System, said A-1 Towing, of Farmington, would tow the passenger bus back to Fort Defiance to the Navajo Transit System Shop.
Navajo Nation Police, McKinley County Sheriffs Deputies and Fresh Mexico State Police were on the scene, along with the Navajo Estates Volunteer Fire Department.
To read the total article, pick up your copy of the Navajo Times at your nearest newsstand Thursday mornings!