MAY 22, 2015
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
The California Highway Patrol faulted a semi-truck driver
Friday for a fiery head-on collision with a bus that killed 10, but officials
said they still don't know why his big rig veered across an interstate median
and into oncoming traffic, killing five high school students on their way to
visit a college and a couple who had just gotten engaged.
The underlying cause of the crash is the FedEx semi-truck
driver, Tim Evans, 32, "allowing his vehicle to travel across the median
in an unsafe turning movement," Sgt. Nathan Parsons said. "He could
have fell asleep, he could have had an undiagnosed medical condition. We're
unable to prove either."
The April 10, 2014, collision occurred in Orland, about 100
miles north of Sacramento. The dead were five high school students from the Los
Angeles area, three chaperones, and the drivers of the FedEx tractor-trailer
and the bus.
The bus was full of prospective Humboldt State University students
heading for a campus visit, and two of the chaperones had been planning their
wedding.
The California Highway Patrol released the results of its
investigation at a news conference after the agency met with family members of
those killed in the collision.
The agency was unable to find any mechanical defects with
any vehicles involved in the crash.
The agency said driver fatigue could have played a factor,
but it could not conclude either way if that or a medical condition played any
role in the crash because Evans' body was so badly burned.
Evans "had sufficient time off," Parsons said.
"That day, he had been working approximately eight hours at the time of
the collision. But he had between eight and 10 hours of sleep the night
before."
Evans was survived by a wife, who did not immediately return
a Facebook message on Friday.
Carla Haywood, whose daughter Mattison died on the bus, said
the investigation still didn't address their central question of why the truck
driver left the road. "We're constantly wondering what happened,
questioning what could have been prevented," said Haywood, 63, of Chino.
Mattison, 25, and her fiancé, 29-year-old Michael Myvett,
who also died in the crash, were chaperones on the trip and had just gotten
engaged in Paris. It was their second year together accompanying students on a
campus trip designed to encourage the enrollment of students with disadvantaged
backgrounds who would have been the first in their families to attend college.
Michael Myvett's grandmother, Debra Loyd, said the
investigation's conclusion has given her closure.
"It was the driver's fault," said Loyd, 63, of Los
Angeles. "I'm satisfied. For one year, we didn't know anything. Now we
know something."
She called on FedEx to settle lawsuits stemming from the
crash and award damages to survivors and the families of those who were killed.
"C'mon, FedEx. Get it done," she said. "Do
what you gotta do. It's time."
FedEx is reviewing the report and will not comment until the
National Transportation Safety Board finishes its separate investigation,
company spokesman Jim McCluskey said. Victims and their families also are suing
the bus company, Silverado Stages.
Gaylord Hill, whose now-19-year-old son survived the crash,
said he wasn't satisfied with the investigation because without a definitive
cause, nothing can be done to prevent a similar crash.
He said he thought the California Highway Patrol did all it
could.