By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A video camera aboard the Twin Transit bus that drove into a Chehalis house this week shows the driver “wasn’t really coherent” after he started to make a left turn and until he ran into the house, police say.
Seventy-year-old Federico J. Mestaz was put on administrative leave while the collision is being investigated.
Police called Wednesday morning when the mid-sized bus plowed through a fence and yard before striking the home suspected the cause was related to some sort of medical issue.
Chehalis Police Department detective Sgt. Rick McNamara indicated this morning the videotape bolsters that theory.
Twin Transit General Manager Ernie Graichen would not release the driver’s name but said bus driver Fred Mestaz crashed into a light pole and awning of a bank on Pearl Street in Centralia in October of 2004.
Grachien would not confirm it was the same bus driver.
In the 2004 incident, Mestaz apparently passed out before running into the Bank of America, according to Grachien.
He returned to work after six months and an extensive medical evaluation, Grachien said.
Nobody was hurt in this week’s accident at the corner of Southwest 13th Street and Southwest McFadden Avenue, but a 66-year-old woman inside the home escaped likely serious injury only because she’d left her bed to sleep upstairs with a colicky grandchild, according to her family.
Grachien said on Wednesday the driver who hit the house was a 15-veteran with an “excellent record.”
All of Twin Transit’s 14 busses have video cameras inside which show multiple views, according to Graichen.
This morning, Sgt. McNamara watched the video and said it shows the driver “slump” a little to the left as his left arm relaxes and that hand drops off the steering wheel and becomes limp. His right hand was still on the wheel but the bus continues into the house, McNamara said.
Just before that, he has a coffee cup in his hand which he puts down and starts coughing, according to McNamara. He didn’t know if the coughing was related to the moments in which he appeared “incoherent.”
Grachien said he couldn’t answer if the driver would be let go, as the circumstances are still being investigated. In 2004, he didn’t have sufficient grounds to dismiss the driver, he said.
McNamara said he doesn’t expect Mestaz will be cited for the collision.
The bus company and its insurer – Washington State Transportation Insurance Pool – are conducting an investigation.
Graichen said he understands the insurer is getting estimates to repair the home and will take care of that.
The dollar amount to fix the 15-seat bus is not yet available, he said.
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Read Wednesday’s story “Chehalis bus versus house collision a mystery” here
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KIROtv.com posted video from inside the bus. See it here
Sabrina Kostick snapped this photo with her phone of the bus and house at the corner of Southwest 13th Street and Southwest McFadden Avenue in Chehalis.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter