Accident near Quincy claims one victim

A collision last week near Quincy involved three vehicles: a Quincy school bus, a tour bus and a passenger vehicle, as reported by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office.

“All 26 students and the driver of the school bus were transported to Quincy Valley Medical Center for evaluation. School bus occupants sustained either no injuries or non-life-threatening injuries. The students range in age from 5 to 15. All students have been reunited with their parents.

There were 39 passengers, one tour guide and the driver on the tour bus. The injured were all transported to Quincy Valley Medical Center and are being sheltered in the hospital’s convalescent wing. No passengers sustained life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the third vehicle also sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the tour bus, sadly, died in the collision, something initially withheld from public disclosure to ensure proper notice of next-of-kin.

The Quincy Public Market, Pink Oven Bakery, East Wenatchee Olive Garden and other businesses and community members have responded with meals for those being sheltered at the hospital in order to make people as comfortable as possible.

The Quincy community is no stranger to emergencies, and always steps up to help. Similar to the Thanksgiving 2018 crash involving a bus carrying part of the University of Washington Marching Band, Quincy community members rallied and came to the aid of those in need of help.

Additionally, Quincy Valley Medical Center mobilized their disaster response protocol and had triple staffing on-hand in order to handle the amount of patients. That protocol is the result of a great deal of planning and preparation within the hospital and with local partners.

Local public safety agencies also rallied to come to help, including the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Quincy School District, Quincy Police Department, Washington State Patrol, Washington Department of Transportation, Grant County Public Works, Grant County Fire Districts 3 and 5, Grant County Emergency Management, MACC Dispatch, Protection One Ambulance, and chaplains from Faith Community Church and Quincy Police Department.

The collision which claimed the life of a tour bus driver was, in fact, two separate collisions.

Around 9 a.m., a Quincy School District bus driven by 56-year-old Jacqueline Mora of Ephrata was stopped in the westbound lane of Road 5-Northwest picking up a student. The school bus was rear-ended by a 2006 Jeep Liberty driven by 19-year-old Jocelyn Gutierrez of East Wenatchee. Gutierrez pulled the Jeep off the roadway and into a driveway. The school bus remained blocking the westbound lane of Road 5-Northwest.

The school bus was then rear-ended by a westbound 2005 Prevost tour bus driven by 71-year-old Sidney Austin of Spokane, who died at the scene.

Neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have contributed to this collision, but dense fog was a factor. All drivers were wearing their seat belts.

The incident remains under investigation by the Grant County Sheriff’s Motor Traffic Unit and the Washington State Patrol’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, which is normal procedure for collisions involving commercial vehicles such as school buses and tour buses.”