Town in Mourning : School Bus Accident Leaves San Marcos With No Fingers to Point

Near tears and stumbling over his words Wednesday, San Marcos City Councilman Mark Loscher blamed nobody for the death of his young daughter in a school bus crash that injured 13 others, but instead pleaded with parents.

“Go out and hug your children, it’s really important,” said Loscher, whose popular 13-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was killed Tuesday when a motor home slammed into the bus loaded with San Marcos Junior High School students.

For the Loscher family, shaken schoolchildren and much of the community, the accident was too painfully fresh Wednesday to give way to understanding and acceptance.

“We can never explain why something like this happens, especially to someone so young,” Loscher said. But he and wife, Maureen, “are looking at this in a spiritual way; Jennifer set an example here on earth, and God needs her up there now.”

While the Loschers sought peace and strength, the California Highway Patrol was back at Mission Road and Mulberry Drive, studying the intersection and trying to determine how the accident happened.

“We’re just not pointing any fingers at this time,” CHP Officer Jerry Bohrer said. “Obviously, one of the drivers is at fault. Whenever you have an accident, somebody caused it, somebody made a violation.”

He said this was the first fatal school bus accident he had seen in 27 years of patrol experience in North County.

The CHP will restage the crash today using a bus and another vehicle to simulate the collision that happened just before 2 p.m. Tuesday as the children were being driven home from school. The impact nearly tore off the rear of the bus.

Fast-growing San Marcos has spent $5 million widening Mission to six lanes and putting a complex, multi-directional signal light at the intersection. But nearby residents and merchants have complained of repeated accidents since the signal was installed.

Mayor Lee Thibadeau on Wednesday sadly noted the irony of spending millions of dollars to make the thoroughfare safer.

“The whole council held its breath about that intersection before the improvements,” he said. “We worried about it for a lot of years. Then we finally get it improved, and this happens. We’re at a loss.”

Thibadeau said he is waiting for the CHP’s accident report before he decides whether the intersection, and not driver error, was primarily to blame. “We’re definitely going to be looking at it,” he said.

He said a similar signal elsewhere in San Marcos has functioned without trouble for four years.

To Councilman Loscher, struggling to make sense of what happened, questions about the intersection don’t seem important now.

“I don’t know about the intersection,” he said. “It’s not something I can or want to deal with at the moment.”

Nor did he blame the veteran bus driver, Dawn Wynne, saying, “she’s not at fault. I hope she has some support too.”

School district officials said Wynne has had a good driving record during her nine years with the district and is expected to eventually resume her duties.

Meanwhile, witnesses have told the CHP that the mobile home’s driver, Jamie Pyer, was traveling west at about 50 m.p.h. on Mission when he hit the bus as it turned left onto Mulberry in front of him.

At first, the CHP reported that the 45-m.p.h. speed limit wasn’t posted because a speed study of the newly widened road hasn’t been finished. But CHP spokesman Bohrer said Wednesday that the 45-m.p.h. limit was posted both east and west of the intersection.

The Department of Motor Vehicles in Sacramento disclosed that Pyer has a valid driver’s license and no accidents on his record.

While authorities searched for conclusions, school district officials and a 20-member team of psychologists, counselors and school nurses were dispatched throughout San Marcos Junior High.

Counselors also spoke to students at Woodland Park Elementary School, where Jennifer’s 11-year-old brother, Steven, is a sixth-grader.

“The kids are upset, confused and in pain,” said Susan Maki, principal at San Marcos Junior High. “Mortality at the age of 13 is not real. For the adults, sometimes it’s even more difficult because they have the experience to understand how real it is.”

Some students said the counseling was helpful, but one girl said it only “made students cry more.”

After school, students headed for Children’s Hospital in San Diego to visit two injured students and to the intersection to deliver flowers in memory of Jennifer.

“Everyone seemed quieter today,” said Lissy Christensen, 13, as she left school. “And a lot of people aren’t riding the bus today.”

“She was alive 24 hours ago, exactly,” said Mark Dagenais, 14, looking at his watch. “It’s hard to believe someone can be alive and enjoying themselves and then, boom, they’re gone. At first, I just couldn’t accept that someone was dead.”

Dagenais said the accident should raise concerns about the safety of school buses.

“I don’t think buses have that much protection,” he said.

California law doesn’t require school buses to carry seat belts, and Bohrer was doubtful whether seat restraints would have saved Jennifer or significantly reduced injuries to the other students.

“This is a case where seat belts might not have done much,” he said.

Of the 13 injured children, the two most seriously hurt remained at Children’s Hospital on Wednesday.

Christine Kronus, 13, who suffered cuts to her face and right hand and internal injuries, was moved out of intensive care, and her condition was upgraded from serious to fair, according to a hospital spokesman.

Steven Schneider, also 13, remained in serious condition in intensive care with a cut on his scalp and a concussion. Both children were awake and speaking Wednesday.

Meanwhile, city officials announced that a Jennifer Loscher Memorial Fund has been established to accept donations to help the family. Checks may be delivered or sent to the city of San Marcos, attention Sheila Kennedy, 105 West Michmar Ave., San Marcos, 92069.

“Jennifer,” said her father, “provided the role modeling for all of us, believe it or not.

“She would love you without question and without any second thoughts. She was a very special girl.”