Lone bus passenger, 86, killed in California crash

The Associated Press

11/21/2008

SEBASTOPOL, Calif . — An 86-year-old Rohnert Park, Calif., woman is dead after the Sonoma County Paratransit bus she was riding in collided with a flatbed truck.

Authorities say Marielle Struckus was killed in the crash Thursday afternoon on Highway 116 near Sepastopol.

A Sonoma County transit official says Struckus is the first person to die on a county transit bus in the system's 28-year history.

She was the only passenger on the bus at the time. The paratransit bus is used to provide door-to-door service for disabled people.

The California Highway Patrol quoted the driver of the truck as saying he veered into the oncoming lane of the highway to avoid hitting a stopped vehicle.

The truck driver, two passengers in the truck and the driver of the bus suffered minor injuries.