Fatal crash adds distrust to Paratransit agency(1)

By Alfredo Santana


On November 2, 2007, the day my brother Ernesto died because of the injuries he sustained in a public transportation minivan, I realized people like him can still pay the highest price because companies like Access Paratransit services offer a disservice to their customers.

I further realized people like Ernesto, who lived most of is life with a disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which makes bones very brittle, struggle too much to achieve small, but important goals that are very frequently ignored by all kinds of media outlets in Los Angeles.

On October 16, 2007, Ernesto was on his to UCLA in a minivan from the company Access Paratransit Services, when the Diego Soriano Lopez, the minivan’s driver crashed a vehicle in front of him. The minivan traveled on the I-5 freeway. My brother suffered two broken legs, and fractured his upper left-rib after the driver failed to install the shoulder belt on him. When the crash occurred, Ernesto, who was riding in the space used for the passengers’ seat, shifted forward and knocked against the dashboard.

The California Highway Patrol police report found Soriano Lopez and Access Paratransit at fault in the accident.

Months before Ernesto’s accident, I had begun to research Access Paratransit, also known as ASI. Several disabled students and adults riders have told me about a series of mishaps and problems they often found whenever they booked rides, and were driven in ASI minivans. Some riders, who asked me no to reveal their names because they fear retaliation from ASI, expressed concerns about the safety conditions and customer service of its ridesharing and ridership programs for the disabled.

They told me about cases in which drivers engaged in verbal fights with passengers about issues of drop-off times, routes configuration and how to tie down scooters and wheelchairs. Several ASI customers believe many drivers pay little attention to issues like how to properly buckle harness straps and seatbelts.

At a Los Angeles City Council meeting on March 26, Access customers said the service’s minivans lack space to fit several wheelchairs, and the drivers’ skills are in many occasions inadequate. Some complained that there are drivers who don’t speak or understand English well. They claimed that drivers failed to pinpoint and address problems and either do not understand or ignore concerns voiced by their customers.

Ernesto was admitted to White Memorial Hospital, where he spent one night in the emergency room. The next day he was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he underwent reconstructive leg surgery. After 14 days in the critical care unit, Ernesto died on Nov. 2, 2007.

My parents filed a lawsuit against ASI, and the civil case was settled out of court in June for $750,000. Dr. Robert Bernstein, an orthopedics specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and who was Ernesto’s surgeon, said the injuries he suffered during the accident could have been avoided.

“I understand that if Ernesto would have been properly restrained, he wouldn’t have sustained these types of injuries,” Bernstein said. “One would think had he’d been properly restrained, he wouldn’t had the injuries he had.”

Dr. Bernstein said he understood my brother was launched against the dashboard, and actually hit it. The impact, and the lack of shoulder harness caused the life-threatening injuries.

All these happened on the heels of an ASI audit prompted by mounting safety complaints. It found that the agency needed to vastly improve the safety conditions and customer service of its ridesharing and ridership program for the disabled. So far, not a single local news organization has written a story, or produced a newscast about this issue.