PORT ANGELES — A 30-year-old Southern California man is under investigation for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs after he sideswiped a car on the Tumwater Truck Route, careened down U.S. Highway 101 and smashed into a Clallam Transit bus carrying 13 passengers on Tuesday.
Witnesses say that before Brandon K. Foth of Wildomar, Calif., hit the bus at 5:10 p.m., he was speeding down residential Port Angeles streets at speeds in excess of 65 mph. The State Patrol could not confirm those reports, spokeswoman Trooper Krista Hedstrom said.
Foth was listed Wednesday in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
The State Patrol said he suffered a serious injury to his left foot when the 1999 Ford Pickup he was driving crossed the center line and hit an oncoming bus, which was traveling Route No. 14 from Forks, near the intersection of Laird Road, just east of the junction of state Highway 112.
Four others were injured in the wreck. None of those injuries was life-threatening, Hedstrom said. All four patients had been treated and discharged from OMC by Wednesday afternoon.
The wreck blocked Highway 101 in both directions for more than four hours. The state Department of Transportation opened the roadway at 9:15 p.m.
After the wreck, the truck and the 1976 Lance Camper it was towing rolled over and came to a rest in a driveway south of the roadway near Milepost 243.
Rescue crews used “jaws of life” equipment to pull Foth from the truck. He was taken to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles and later flown to Harborview.
Drugs involved
While no evidence of drugs or alcohol were found at the scene, the State Patrol determined that drugs were involved after meeting with Foth at Olympic Medical Center.
“Once he was at the hospital, there were some indicators he was DUI,” said Trooper Krista Hedstrom, State Patrol spokeswoman.
“It sounded like maybe it was medication, not alcohol.”
A blood sample was taken at the hospital. Charges may be filed after the results of the blood tests becomes available, Hedstrom said. Blood tests can take up to a month.
Earlier collision
The State Patrol said Foth was involved in a hit-and-run collision near Euclid Avenue at the top of the Tumwater Truck Route, state Highway 117, in Port Angeles shortly before the head-on wreck occurred.
Troopers say Foth sideswiped a Jeep Cherokee before crashing into the bus. The woman in the Jeep was not injured.
The driver of the bus, Jimie D. Richmond, 61, Port Angeles, was treated at OMC with lacerations and an eye injury.
Three of the 13 passengers on the Route No. 14 bus also were treated and discharged from the Port Angeles hospital:
• Simon P. Parker, 70, Neah Bay, was treated for bruises and leg and jaw pain.
• Elizabeth G. Paup, 42, Port Angeles, was treated for neck, shoulder, rib and lower back pain, and slight abdominal pain.
• Rhonda K. Wilson, 57, Port Angeles, was treated for a hematoma — a swelling from a break in a blood vessel — on her forehead and right leg, rib and back pain.
The Clallam Transit bus, a 40-foot-long 2005 Gillig with a scheduled 5:11 p.m. stop at Lairds Corner, was traveling eastbound in the left lane. A 1995 Geo Metro was to its right.
Driver swerved
Richmond swerved the bus to the right to avoid a direct head-on hit with the pickup. The bus pushed the Geo Metro into the eastbound ditch. The bus came to a rest behind the small car.
The driver of the Geo, Michael S. Middleton, 46, of Forks, was not injured.
A State Patrol memo said the Geo sustained an estimated $1,000 in damage. The bus sustained an estimated $10,000 in damage, the State Patrol said.
Terry Weed, general manager of Clallam Transit, did not have an estimate of the cost of the damage Wednesday.
Based on a gouge in the pavement, State Patrol investigator Brett Yacklin said the pickup collided with the bus about six feet into the eastbound lane.
Weed said the bus sustained “significant damage” to its front end and left side. The right side of the bus sustained lesser damage.
“This, obviously, is one of the more significant accidents that we’ve had in terms of damage and the number of people involved,” Weed said.
“I think we were fortunate that the damage and the injuries weren’t more extensive. All the injuries, at least to our passengers and driver, are relatively minor.”
Clallam Transit performs above average in all safety categories compared to the rest of the state, Weed said.
“In this case, it was a veteran driver with a good safety record,” Weed said.
Tells of speeding
Anthony Gomez, called the Peninsula Daily News on Wednesday to say he witnessed the driver of the pickup/camper speeding eastbound on East Fourth Street in Port Angeles before the head-on wreck occurred.
Gomez said he was parked near Civic Field talking on his phone when he saw Foth speeding at about 50 mph, running through stop signs and yield signs.
“That’s what caught my attention,” Gomez said. “He flew right through that stop sign.”
Gomez said he was concerned about the safety of children who were playing near the street.
Foth was “picking up speed,” as he went through a stop sign and peeled off toward Peninsula College, Gomez said.
“He wasn’t stopping,” he said. “It looked like he didn’t care.”
Gomez said his friend, Ken DeMoss, and other concerned citizens tried to follow the camper but lost track of it on the residential streets.
Gomez and DeMoss each said that they called 9-1-1 to report the speeder.
PenCom received reports from Chambers Street and Lauridsen Boulevard of a pickup/camper traveling erratically and at high speed at about 5 p.m.
DeMoss, who was standing in his living room near the intersection of Fourth and Chambers streets when Foth sped by, said the pickup and camper was going “at least 65 mph” when it blew through the intersection.
“I though he was in a high-speed chase,” DeMoss said.
The trailer was swerving back and fort, DeMoss said.
“I thought he was going to flip over.”
DeMoss told his kids to get inside the house and attempted to catch the speeder. He thought the public was in danger, and he wanted to help.
“There were kids everywhere,” DeMoss said.
“He was going so fast, I didn’t know if he was going to kill somebody.”
But DeMoss couldn’t see where Foth made his turn. He suspects that Foth circled his way back to the west.
An unidentified witness at the scene of the head-on wreck said Foth was driving erratically up Tumwater Truck Route, and that people were giving chase.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
