An RTD bus was severely damaged this afternoon and several passengers were injured after a pickup collided with the bus and caused the bus to smash into a large light pole, Denver police said.
Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the bus was northbound on Sheridan and the pickup southbound on Sheridan near Sixth Avenue.
Jackson said the pickup abruptly turned left in front of the bus, hitting the bus and causing the bus to hit the large light pole which also contained multiple traffic signals.
Jackson said the light was green and the bus had the right-of-way since there was no left-turn signal. The pickup driver was cited, he said.
The collision occurred shortly after 2 p.m.
RTD spokesman Scott Reed said the Route 51 bus had a green light when it was struck by the pickup.
Five people — two children and three adults, including the bus driver — were taken to local hospital, Jackson said. There were several people who refused treatment or were examined by fire medics at the scene.
Stella Martinez, 34, a bus passenger, said that she was on her way home from a doctor’s appointment and saw a white pickup pulled into the path of the bus.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, the bus is going to flip’,” said Martinez when she saw the collision.
Martinez said the impact of the collision threw her to the floor.
When she got up, she said “everybody on the bus was screaming.
“Everybody was screaming and some people were bleeding,” said Martinez.
Martinez said the back door of the bus opened and she sprinted to get out of the bus.
“I got out and I was hysterical,” she said.
Cassandra Usera, a college student who frequently takes the bus, said she was not paying much attention to the road when “all of a sudden there was a crash.
“People flew this way and people flew that way,” Usera said.
Usera said that immediately after the accident she was in shock. She said she saw a woman with a bloodied mouth.
She said she was particularly worried about a number of kids on the bus.
“I hope they are OK,” she said.
After speaking to reporters at the scene, Usera became dizzy and out of breath and had to sit down.
Minutes later, an ambulance arrived and Usera was loaded and taken to a hospital.
Officials said that four children on the bus were taken to a hospital.
The impact shattered the front window of the bus and caused major damage to the front of the bus. One witness said the front of the bus was “obliterated”.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
