Fresno Greyhound Crash: Driver Involved In Fatal Bus Crash Was Drunk

FRESNO, Calif. — An 18-year-old woman driving an SUV that was struck by a Greyhound bus in a horrifying crash last week was under the influence of alcohol, the California Highway Patrol said Monday.

Friends and relatives said Sylvia Lopez Garay had been to a dance party in Fresno prior to the crash, which killed six people and injured nearly two dozen bus passengers traveling on one of central California's busiest highways.

Authorities initially said 19-year-old Vanessa Gonzalez of Fresno was behind the wheel of the SUV.

The CHP said Monday that Garay, of Dinuba, was actually driving and had a blood alcohol level above the legal driving limit. Preliminary investigations show she made an abrupt left turn across the two northbound lanes of Highway 99, and hit the center divider just after 2 a.m, flipping the Chevy Trailblazer on its side.

The bus then plowed into the Trailblazer, went off the highway's right shoulder and down a 15-foot embankment before hitting a eucalyptus tree and coming to rest with its front end smashed.

The bus driver, James Jewett, 57, of Sacramento, had a clean driving record and had been working for Greyhound since 1978, according to company officials. He died instantly of massive injuries, and was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol, said Fresno County Coroner Dr. David Hadden.

Family members of all six victims are still struggling to reconcile their losses and raise money to bury their loved ones.

State records show Garay had a clean driving record.

(This version CORRECTS Adds that bus driver died in wreck, corrects date of his employment with Greyhound.)

Comments

[Addison Swords]

02:14 PM on 07/30/2010

The sadest part is, the girls didnt die after their car wrecked. They were tryin to crawl out of the car when the bus hit.

[sidge]

05:25 PM on 07/27/2010

Bad Headline. It makes it seem as though the bus driver was drunk. Needs edit.

[bwright85]

06:55 PM on 07/27/2010

so true...HuffPo is prone for misleading headlines :/

[bruinlover09]

03:10 PM on 07/27/2010

I hope she is charge with first degree murder and attempted murder. After several decades of warnings about driving while drunk and evidence about the consequences of drunk driving, we need to stop treating this drunk drivers are petty criminals and start treating them as potential murders or actually murders. This idiot knew the risks when she got behind the wheel but she still decided to risk her life and lives of her passengers and strangers.
Is she any different from a person who is under the influence of an illegal drug, having hallucinations, firing his gun randomly into a crowd, and killing innocent people? Or a gangbanger who does a drive-by and a strayed bullet kills a child? NO. She should received the same treatment

She needs to feel the full weight of her actions. at least 50 years behind bars

[rowzeer]

12:21 AM on 07/28/2010

It's a little hard to charge her with murder when she died in the accident.

[VanTroi]

01:12 AM on 07/28/2010

Um she is dead

[MarenS]

02:31 PM on 07/27/2010

this is why Madame Lindsay is in jail and should stay there....clearly her parents can't help her, so the judge gave her what was legally allowable..

Sad to see a reputable driver with a great record taken down by a senseless drunk....very sad.

[SoCalNick]

12:52 PM on 07/27/2010

ANOTHER Drunk Driver kills.

As a victim of a drunk driver myself I feel to this day the laws are WAYYY to lenient on them. Maybe if the laws were tougher we wouldn't see so many people die for no reason.

That is all

[TaurusRose]

01:41 PM on 07/27/2010

Amen. RIP