Two parents whose child was fatally hit by a driver at a Palm Springs district school drop-off spot sued the school district Dec. 16 for negligence and dangerous condition of public property.
Gloria Guzman’s and Steve Gonzalez’ daughter, Monique, was 10 years old when she and two other children were struck on their way home after school.
The other students, Julio, 5, and Esmerelda, 11, suffered life-threatening injuries, and are co-plaintiffs.
The Palm Springs Unified School District countersued April 25, arguing that the blame rests on the driver, Robert Hanson, and the school bus contractor, First Student, Inc.
The children were dropped off by the Desert Hot Springs intersection of Corkill Road and Aurora Road at a bus stop near their homes on Dec. 9, 2021. They walked south, past the intersection, and were on the west shoulder of Corkill Road, plaintiff’s attorney James Perry said, citing a police report.
Hanson was driving his 1994 Cadillac southbound when he attempted to go around a stopped school bus, but instead struck it, the complaint said. He then veered his car onto the opposite lane of traffic, passed the intersection, and then drove onto the west shoulder, to the right of a school bus that had stopped in traffic. There, he hit the children, Perry said. Perry said the school bus near the children was not the bus which had dropped the children off.
The complaint says that drivers saw Hanson drive around school buses multiple times.
“We believe PSUSD and FSI were responsible for dropping the children off in a safe location that would allow the children to safely walk home. Compare, for example, if a school bus dropped children off on the side of the freeway. No one would agree that is an appropriate drop-off location such that PSUSD and FSI satisfied their responsibilities,” Perry wrote in an email.
The complaint says the Palm Springs Unified School District, Riverside County, Hanson, and bus operator First Student share responsibility for the death.
Palm Springs Unified School District and First Student declined to comment on pending litigation through spokespersons Joan Boiko and Chris Bokelman. The school district, First Student and Riverside County each generally denied the complaint’s claims with general defensive arguments in court documents.
Hanson’s attorney in the civil case has not yet been listed. His criminal defending attorney, Shaun Sullivan, has not responded to a request for comment.
Hanson was charged Dec. 8, 2022, with felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and reckless driving. He also was charged with misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence and driving without a license.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A felony settlement conference is scheduled for July 14.
He posted bail at $35,000
Shaun Sullivan is defending, and Deputy District Attorney Karen Salas is prosecuting.
The complaint claims that the defendants failed by:
- Stopping the bus in the roadway
- Having dangerous traffic by the drop-off location
- Having 5-year-olds walking without parental supervision
- Not having any stop, yield or traffic signs by the drop-off location
- Not having a reduced speed when child are present sign
- Not employing a traffic officer by the drop-off location
- Not having any sidewalks, curbs or crosswalks by the drop-off location
- Violating the district’s transportation safety plan that requires students not to go into the street unless told to by the bus driver
- Violating a California code that requires the California Highway Patrol to approve of bus stops where the speed limit is more than 25 miles per hour and the stop is not visible from 500 feet in each direction
- Not acting on knowledge that drivers attempt to bypass traffic by driving in the wrong lane.
Desert Hot Springs was also a defendant, but was dismissed May 5.
The case brought a cause of dangerous condition of public property against the county and the school district, a cause of negligent undertaking and supervision against the school district and First Student, and negligence against Hanson and First Student.
Slava Kasreliovich, James Perry and Joseph Finnerty of Abir Cohen Treyzon Salo, and sole practitioner Odion Okojie represent the plaintiffs.
Dana McCune and Joseph Cheung of McCune & Harber represent the school district.
John Lowenthal and Christopher McIntire of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith represent First Student.
Riverside Superior Judge Kira Klatcho presides.
Case No. CVPS2204962
Criminal Case No. INF2202484
Read the complaint here.
Read the PSUSD’s counter-complaint here.
