The driver of a bus carrying adults with disabilities died of an apparent heart attack while behind the wheel Monday morning, causing the slow-moving vehicle to ram a fence in Carpinteria. Officials said none of the five passengers was injured.
The 69-year-old driver, William Sanchez, had worked for 10 years as a driver for the Goleta-based school bus company, called Student Transportation of America, spokesman Al Sauvadon said. He was a resident of Lompoc.
“William was a very quiet, very easygoing kind of guy,” he said. “He’s the type of person you were glad to have him as a member of your team. Just a nice man.”
The accident happened about 8:10 a.m. near the intersection of Cravens Lane and Via Real, en route to the Alpha Training Center in Goleta, Sauvadon said.
The bus hit a wooden fence surrounding a mobile home park. Witnesses said it was moving slowly. Sauvadon said very little damage was done to the bus, and that it did not go through the fence.
Sauvadon said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death, but that it appears Sanchez died of a heart attack.
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