8 taken to hospital after Winnipeg Transit bus hits house during rush hour

At least one child was among the eight people taken to hospital Thursday afternoon, after a Winnipeg Transit bus veered off the road, hit a light standard and then a house in the city's East Kildonan area.

The driver was in unstable condition after the crash, which happened shortly after 5 p.m. on Henderson Highway, between Kimberly Avenue and Bronx Place. The seven others, all passengers, were listed in stable condition.

Terry Hardisty was at the front of the bus with his girlfriend, Courtney, and their four-month-old baby, Miracle, when he noticed something wrong with the driver.

The bus started slowly pulling away from a stop when people began yelling that there was someone at the door, Hardisty said.

Hardisty looked up and saw the driver was in trouble. He was slumped to the side, his head leaning against the Plexiglas protective shield that surrounds and protects transit drivers, Hardisty said.

"I thought he was trying to lean over and listen or something [to the people shouting], then I noticed him shaking," Hardisty said.

"So I got up and went running to go see if I was right … and we were already steering towards a pole."

The bus started to pick up speed, plowing through the pole continuing across the sidewalk then the yards of a couple of houses before slamming into the front steps of one of them.

"I grabbed on to something to brace myself," Hardisty said. "But I ended up getting thrown to the front of the bus."

When the bus came to a stop, the driver was leaning forward through the broken windshield, said Hardisty, who started yelling to Courtney to ask if she and the baby were OK.

Miracle had rolled out of her stroller and onto the floor of the bus but was checked over at the hospital and, fully living up to her name, was uninjured.

"There's nothing at all, not even a bump or bruise or anything," Hardisty said.

Courtney remains in hospital with an arm that might be broken — Hardisty hasn't heard if it is or not. He had minor injuries to his legs and has been released from hospital.

There are still no official details about the cause of the crash, which is under investigation, said Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Fire Operations Chief Steve Kumka.

Winnipegger Kevin Settee was driving south down Henderson, the same direction the bus had been heading, when he saw a downed light in the right-hand lane. He arrived at the scene of the crash just moments after the bus hit the house.

Settee and others parked their vehicles and ran to the bus to help people get off, he said. Shocked-looking people got off the bus, some of whom appeared to be injured. One bystander was a paramedic who started assisting the driver, Settee said.

"There was a bunch of people on the bus and they're all kind of, like, disoriented.… There was, like, blood all over the ground, and there's, like, seats that were broken and poles that were bent," he said.

"It was just … kind of a hectic scene."

Settee estimated there were about eight or nine passengers on the bus when he arrived, including a young couple carrying an infant. The man and the child appeared unhurt, but the woman seemed to be limping, he said.

Medical issue possible

When emergency crews arrived at the scene, Settee said he alerted others to move their parked vehicles, and he left, too.

In total, eight paramedic units and six pieces of fire apparatus responded to the crash, Kumka said. The response was made more complicated by slick roads and heavy rush-hour traffic, he said.

All southbound lanes of Henderson Highway were blocked in the area after the crash. Northbound lanes are open.

Romeo Ignacio, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, said the driver was taken to hospital in unstable condition, but upgraded to stable later Thursday evening.

Ignacio said he's received some information suggesting the driver experienced some type of medical issue before the crash, but he could not verify the nature of the issue.

"We can only pray for his safe recovery … and everyone [else]," he said.

'It's very scary'

Ignacio knows the driver involved in the crash personally, he said, and described him as a friendly, easygoing person with years of experience as a driver.

"He's a nice guy," he said.

Crashes like the one Thursday are frightening for transit users and drivers, Ignacio said.

"It's very scary when it happens. Of course, a lot of drivers are also concerned," he said.

"It's very difficult to understand right now how it happened. And hopefully, you know, everyone's safe."