California Highway Patrol said a tour bus that was already involved in a minor accident earlier in the day left the road and flipped over on Nov. 23, killing one passenger and hurting 30 others. The second crash happened at approximately 7:30 a.m. about 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

After rolling over, the 1996 Vanhool bus came to a rest on its roof. One passenger, a 33-year-old Parlier man, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Approximately two dozen other passengers were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Three were critically injured, three were seriously hurt and the rest suffered minor injuries.

According to authorities, the bus, which is owned by Yellow Arrow LLC in Othello, Washington, also hit a Denny's restaurant in Red Bluff earlier in the day. No one was hurt in that accident.

An auto and bicycle accident turned fatal for three Sacramento residents on Oct. 23. Authorities from the California Highway Patrol reported that a female bicyclist was killed when a male Chevrolet Tahoe driver collided with her at Howe Avenue and Birney Way. Witnesses reported that the SUV was speeding at a minimum of 50 miles per hour as it suddenly changed from the southbound to the northbound lane of Howe Avenue.

The 53-year-old bicyclist riding against traffic in the northbound lane. She was struck and thrown 100 feet away from her bicycle when the Tahoe driver veered into the same lane. The SUV then caught fire after it struck a nearby tree in Belleview Park.

Both the bicyclist and the 24-year-old female passenger were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities report that the passenger, who was not wearing a seat belt, was killed instantly from the impact of being thrown into the rear of the SUV. A civilian responder arrived at the scene of the accident with a fire extinguisher and attempted to pull the driver and his passenger out from the vehicle. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of his serious injuries before he died.

Traffic accidents caused by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol are some of the most difficult for victims and their families to handle, particularly because they are so preventable. Some might say that they're not accidents at all, considering that the at-fault driver made a choice to drive intoxicated.

Drunk driving is the suspected cause of a fatal car accident on central California's Route 152 this week. According to the California Highway Patrol, a San Jose man was traveling the wrong way on 152 in his SUV when it collided head-on with a pickup truck in the eastbound fast lane of the highway. The crash was severe enough to kill two people. One of those was the passenger in the front seat of the pickup truck, a 30-year-old woman. She was pronounced dead at the scene, but another passenger in the back seat of the truck, also female, was flown to a Modesto hospital before succumbing to her injuries.

Yet another passenger in the pickup truck, a 23-year-old woman, suffered serious injuries and was also flown to a hospital. Both the truck and SUV drivers were hurt less severely.

Emotions tend to run high a lot of times at sporting events. From fans upset over their team losing to players arguing with each other over unsportsmanlike conduct, these heightened emotions usually don’t amount to anything more than a few grumbles during and after the event is done.

But as our California readers will soon see, this wasn’t the case in Michigan recently where a disagreement with a referee at a soccer match turned deadly. Now, even though the incident happened far from residents here in San Jose, it’s raising questions about liability and whether the referee’s death could lead to civil litigation and eventually compensation.

For those who haven’t heard about the incident, the 44-year-old referee died after being punched in the head by a 36-year-old male player. The alleged assault happened during a dispute over a call made during the game. On top of the possibility of criminal charges in the case, could the 36-year-old face civil litigation?

A tragedy out of San Bernardino County this month is highlighting the dangerous children face every day on properties where there are pools and hot tubs. Without proper supervision, these summer getaways can turn deadly for children. In a matter of seconds, everything can change and a family may never fully recover from the tragedy.

This particular pool accident ended in the death of a 4-year-old boy from Highland after his hand got stuck in a pool drain. Reports indicate that he had been playing in an in-ground hot tub when his hand became lodged in the spa’s filter. Despite performing CPR after pulling the boy from the water, firefighters were not able to save the boy and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Because of the recentness of the accident, there are a lot of unknown facts that could establish liability in the case. If the spa was located on someone else’s property, they could be held liable for the boy’s death. But if there was a defect in the drain filter that the homeowner did not know about, then it’s possible that the hot tub’s manufacturer could be held liable.