Driver Of Tour Bus That Smashed Into Union Square Store Recounts Crash Through His Attorney
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- The driver of a tour bus that crashed, injuring 20 people in San Francisco's Union Square told his version of the event through his attorney Tuesday, while recovering from a broken back suffered in the crash.
52-year old Kenneth Malvar had driven with City Sightseeing since 2005, and told his attorney Robert Cartwright that Friday had been a normal day right up to the point when an air pressure buzzer went off on his double decker bus.
"He checked his gauges, air pressure was slightly high, but it went off in a few seconds, and returned to normal," Cartwright said.
Malvar stopped at a light at the corner of Post and Taylor streets.
"He heard a loud boom, or a bang from underneath the bus somewhere. He stepped on the gas, and it was just no response. It wasn't like it was stuck, it was just floppy. The brake – the same thing. No brakes whatsoever," Cartwright said.
The emergency brake didn't work, and the bus wouldn't go into neutral, or turn off. It was just speeding uncontrollably down Post Street, Malvar says.
"He then hit some parked cars, and some cars that had people in them," Cartwright said.
That's when Malvar saw the scaffolding at the Apple Store, and made the decision to hit it.
"God knows what would've happened had he gone another block or two," Cartwright said.