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Driver In Sacramento Bus Accident Was Not Drunk, Prosecutors Say

Colusa County District Attorney John Poyner has confirmed that Quintin Watts, the driver who was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and causing the bus accident near Sacramento on October 5th, was not drunk at the time of the crash. Toxicology reports have apparently come back as negative, clearing the 52-year-old driver who has received the brunt of the blame for the deadly bus accident.

As we reported a few days back on this bus accident attorney blog, the bus that was transporting a group of retired people to the Colusa Casino resort fell into a ditch on a rural road located north of Sacramento. Eight passengers on the bus were reported to have died in the initial days after the bus accident, but last Friday, a ninth victim who has been hospitalized for his injuries in the accident, died in the hospital. E. Vang Saelee died of his injuries at the UC Davis Medical center in Sacramento. He was 74-years-old, and his wife had died at the scene of the Sacramento bus crash itself.

Initially, reports had pointed to the driver’s intoxicated state at the time of the accident as the primary cause of the bus crash. But now, toxicology reports have come back negative, giving Watts’ parents, who have long believed that their son was not drunk at the time of the crash, some reprieve.

Watts’ mother told reporters that her son had diabetes, and had been sick off and on from complications from the disease. In fact, she says that he slipped into diabetic coma a few days after the bus accident, and has only now regained consciousness. Watts seems to have had trouble controlling his diabetes, and only last spring had been hospitalized after his blood sugar levels reached alarming proportions.

Now that reports have come back negative, Watts is being held on charges of violation of his parole, because he was caught driving more than 10 passengers without the required license.

Although test results have come back negative, the bus company has much to answer for, especially in terms of what a man with Watts’ lengthy record of criminal offenses was doing driving a bus that was used to transport mostly elderly people to a casino. Watts had his license suspended for a period of two years, and had only regained it in January. He had also served prison sentences of varying terms relating to weapons and drug charges. He had even been charged with theft in the past. Clearly, this was a man who was not fit to be put in charge of the responsible position of driving a bus carrying more than 45 passengers.

Greyhound had deemed the bus non-operational. The owner of the bus, Daniel E. Cobb, was one of those who died in the bus accident in Sacramento. The bus accident has increased calls for better regulation and oversight of bus companies in the state.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of bus accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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