Eyewitnesses describe harrowing crash between SUV and INL bus

ATOMIC CITY – Fifty people are lucky to be alive after a terrifying collision between a Honda Pilot SUV and an Idaho National Laboratory bus Wednesday evening.

Approximately 50 Idaho Environmental Coalition employees were riding home to Idaho Falls from the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) and Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) facility, when a white SUV pulled in front of them. It collided with the bus at 5:36 p.m. at the “Puzzle,” the intersection of U.S. Highway 20 and Highway 26 near the entrance to INL.

Seven people – including the drivers of the bus and the SUV – were transported via ambulance to a local hospital, according to a news release from the Idaho State Police.

EastIdahoNews.com spoke with multiple eyewitnesses who observed the crash or were riding on the bus.

Braden Hartle, an INL contractor and truck driver from Rexburg, was driving 20 seconds behind the accident when it occurred.

“(The SUV driver) pulled out in front of the bus. The bus hit her, and the bus veered off into the concrete barriers. It flipped her and rolled her over,” he said.

Several riders on the bus reported that the SUV was coming up Highway 26 from the direction of Blackfoot. They said its driver came to a stop, before attempting to turn left onto Highway 20 heading west toward Arco — directly in the path of the INL bus.

“The bus driver hit his brakes and he tried to swerve to avoid hitting her,” said a bus passenger who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He hits her, then he swerves to avoid oncoming traffic, and then we launched off the highway and hit those jersey barriers.”

The concrete barricades steadied the bus as it careened to a halt with the front completely torn off.

“It could have been a lot worse. I think the jersey barrier saved us from rolling, and if we had rolled, it would have been bad,” one bus rider said.

Idaho State Police reports the Honda was driven by a 58-year-old woman from Hailey and the bus driver was a 47-year-old man from Iona.

Hartle said the driver of the bus deserves an award for his quick reactions and performance.

“He could have veered onto the oncoming traffic. I mean, this is happening in microseconds, split seconds,” Hartle said. “He made the absolute best decision of where to hit that car and then keep the bus upright as he crashed. I drive truck — that’s one of the like (most difficult maneuvers.)”

“He saved a lot of lives. I think because of that, because he kept the bus upright, he was able to maintain control even when hitting the vehicle.”

Hartle pulled over at the scene, ran to the wrecked white SUV and tried to open the passenger door. The door wouldn’t open and the handle broke off, causing him to fall backwards.

He then ran to the back seat, opened the door, moved the airbags and crawled into the Honda Pilot.

“(The driver) was hanging upside down, and I just started talking to her and kind of just holding her arm, comforting her, and just helping her until EMS arrived,” he said.

As he approached the vehicle, all he could think was that he hoped no kids were inside.

“I gotta tell you what, it’s emotional because I got kids, and I was just praying there was no kids, you know, walking up to there,” he said, his voice cracking. “… Thank goodness there wasn’t, because, you know, that’s an emotional topic.”

The driver’s pants were soaked in blood, and the airbags were covered as well.

“Her face, though, she didn’t have a black eye or a puffy face, so her face looked fine,” he said.

She was wearing her seatbelt.

“She was coherent. She could talk, but she was (in shock).”

Meanwhile, on the bus, several people were pinned in their seats.

“We had people stuck in and under the seats of the bus, so they were extracting them,” Hartle said.

Emergency personnel applied a tourniquet to one of the injured individuals. It took more than an hour to extricate him.

“He was in good spirits,” one of the employees said. “There were several that stayed on the bus to keep him company and keep him talking while paramedics worked on him, and then they had to cut seats out in order to get him out.”

Numerous agencies responded, including INL Fire Department, Butte County, Idaho State Police and INL Security.

They performed medical check assessments on all passengers and individuals involved in the accident.

Hartle helped the firefighters extract the woman from the upside down Honda Pilot.

An air ambulance was initially requested, but was called off after personnel completed an assessment on the woman.

During a phone interview Wednesday evening, Hartle still had glass embedded in his arm and blood on his clothes from assisting the SUV driver.

“If I was in that situation, I’d need comforting,” he said. “I took EMT courses. So being there to comfort somebody (helps). … Being there alone is scary. I want to make sure people feel loved and comforted during that.”

He hopes everyone injured in the accident is able to recover as swiftly as possible.

“If she makes it out too, I’d like to talk to her because she’s a trooper for going through that,” Hartle said. “I’d like to connect with her and just give her a big old hug. Because, yeah, I get emotional about that. I hate to see people go through things. … Give her a big hug.”