City official: Bus that girl fell from did not have proper permit
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PORTLAND, Ore. – The bus that a girl fell out of and died did not have the proper permits to operate in the city of Portland, according to city officials.
11-year-old Angie Hernandez died on Saturday night when she fell out of a party bus in downtown Portland. Family members said she leaned against an emergency window and fell to her death when it popped open.
The limo company, Five Star Limousine, did not have any buses that were permitted to pick up passengers inside the city of Portland, according to Kathleen Butler, the Regulatory Division Manager with the Portland Revenue Bureau.
Family members said the bus picked up the partygoers from a church in Northwest Portland. Since they were picked up inside city limits, the company was required to get a city permit.
For a bus to get a permit, a certified mechanic must inspect the vehicle, Butler said. That would include checking emergency exits.
Somebody caught driving a bus without the proper permit can be arrested and fined $5,000, Butler said. The city recently increased the penalty after having problems enforcing the law.
The city has not yet levied any fines or taken other action.
The driver, 61-year-old Martin Ray Brouwer Jr. also did not have a commercial driver’s license, according to Rick Lycksell, the general manager of Five Star Limousine.
Lycksell has not responded to multiple calls for comment about the permitting issue.
According to David House with the Oregon DMV, a driver with a commercial driver’s license would have been trained to do a series of safety checks and inspections that a normal driver might not be familiar with.
A commercial license is required for vehicles with 16 seats or more. The website for Five Star Limousine said the bus in question had a seating capacity of 26-30.
Remembering Angie Hernandez
Hernandez was with friends and families on the bus celebrating a quinceanera, which is a celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.
Aylin Michelle Salas was the girl turning 15. She said Hernandez was a wonderful, bubbly girl.
“My family and I are devastated with this situation,” she told KATU News.
Hernandez was in sixth grade at Rowe Middle School in Milwaukie. School district spokesman Joe Krumm said counselors were at the school on Monday to help students cope with the news.
“She was very well-loved by all the kids,” Krumm said. “She loved to learn and she especially loved to read.”
The school held a moment of silence in her honor and set up a “safe room” for students, which Krumm said has been very busy.
Any death regardless of the cause is tragic. As a licenced school bus and passenger bus driver, a bus needs to have through pre-trip inspection, including all emergency exits. A licenced driver would know this and if there was a failure in the equipment the bus would be grounded. As a school bus driver, I transport all grade levels. Middle schoolers, including 11 years old students, if allowed, will do dumb things, like stand, talk over several rows of seats. It is the responsibility of the driver to maintain control. Howevery, when a bus is chartered, then the responsibility of passenger management falls on the shoulders of the the chaprons too. if those chaprons sit back and just watch and allow onsafe behavior, then an incident like this could happen. If there was one passenger standing and dancing, were there others? Was the bus "Out of controll?" when that happens the driver should pull over and get the bus back under control. But if it is chartered, as was in this case, the driver may not do that. Depending on the type of bus involved, the emergency windows would have an alarm sound go off if and when an emergency window is opened. The should take appropiate response by pulling over the a safe place and investigate. If the chaporons were aware of this action happening and not saying anything, then the accident would fall on their shoulders.  Â
 This is a tragedy for sure, but as I think about the situation it seems to me that there were mistakes all around. A bus full of junior high kids all wound up for a party on a moving bus and dancing to loud music is not a safe situation.  It is the responsibility of the attending adults to exercise good judgment and not allow the kids to be dancing in the aisle or sitting on top of the seats in a moving vehicle. The result would likely have been the same if the bus had gotten into an accident along the way.Â
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So, first of all, it appears the chaperones were negligent in their duty to properly supervise the children. Now the bus company didn't have the proper permit to "pick up the group in the city". They are responsible for that and deserve to be fined, but did that really significantly contribute to the death of the girl? If the bus was mechanically unsafe or the driver caused an accident, then the company is liable. If the adults on the bus were not responsible enough to keep kids off the back of the seats, then it is likely that they were also not responsible enough to notice the kids unlocking the emergency window to let more air into the bus and keep it cool. In my opinion, it is the adults who bear the majority of the burden for the girlâs death and, if anyone should be sued, it is them. We will see what the parents do. If they are like many others, they will go after the limo company because there is money there instead of going after the adults that were charged with keeping the children safe. It is tough to say what I would do in their place, but I don't think the limo company deserves to be sued in this case.
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If other limo companies in the area are smart, they will simply refuse to drive the bus unless everyone is seated.Â
Which came first - the bus without proper permits. Yep.
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But we have a young girl sitting on top of the seat, leaning against a window. And adults all around her - or it is suggested there were multiple adults inside of the bus with this young girl.
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Two and two - and a young girl who should have been seated. On a seat. And adults who should have ensured that happened.
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And then we deal with the actions of the bus company.
It doesn't appear that the vehicle had faulty equipment. It seems that at some point in time someone opened the latches and didn't close them so unfortunately when she was sitting on the back of the seat it didn't take much for her to lean against it and the window open. Definitely sad but not really seeing how any city permit or inspection would have made a difference.Â
Well if violating the border is no big deal then why would they care about a permit... permits are meant to keep citizens down...
 @!!! WTF?!?!?  Really, WTF???!!  What does that have to do with anything?  I'd suggest you put the pipe down and step away.
 @!!! I didn't see anything about "violating the border."
There will be plenty of lawsuits to go around. Other companies that may not have been doing things the right way will hopefully learn from this. One little error on the part of someone, or a lot of someones' took a life.
The permit if required would have required inspections to be passed
The driver if properly licensed would have probably checked the equipment.
The leasing company (5 Star Limo) would have made sure rules and laws were followed
The chaperon (adults) if on the bus would have made sure any passengers were seated propertly
The driver would have made sure to enforce the rules / policies
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This was an accident apparently waiting to happen, through a chain of rules, laws, policies not followed nor enforced.
It is really sad that a child had to be part of the learning of all those that missed a step, or looked the other way.
When some of us drove bus in the military, you had an inspection sheet to be completed prior to siging out the vehicle. If it was not road worthy, you noted it and told someone about it. You were not allowed to drive it unless it was fixed or maintained.
 @Just Lookin This isnt the Military... its a charter bus that 20+ parents of kids under 16, allowed all of their children to be alone on a "party bus". The news is bias, you being military should be very well aware of this.
justme...you missed the total point. But that is alright, the news had nothing to do with it.
Straight off the City of Portland code enforcement page.
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What types of vehicles are regulated and are required to have permits?
Taxicabs, executive sedans, limousines, tour vehicles, shuttles, pedicabs, horse-drawn carriages, Specially Attended Transportation vehicles, and generally all for-hire transportation vehicles under 26,000 pounds.
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The bus that was involved in the accident was over 26,000 pounds and therefore does not require a city permit. Kathleen Butler must have misspoke again.Â
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 @moms space YES! The owner was saying the same thing and the news keeps making them look like evil criminals... they stated all the other limos had permits as well... I would LOVE for the news to apologize to them. Its sad when an accident happens and the blame always has to go to someone... get the facts before you tell 2 million people the wrong info.
I smell lawsuit...its the North American way!
@portlandborn83  definitely their will be a lawsuit........ even if the bus co. had done everything right there still would be a lawsuit.  I bet there was at least a dozen vultures... I mean attorneys chasing down the family
well, i bet this limo company will be going out of business after they claim backruptcy after they are sued.
Immediately there are three strikes against the limo company. 1 - no permit to function within Portland city limits. 2 - driver is not commercial driver. 3 - malfunctioned bus. I see a whopper of a lawsuit.
 @washcomom Likely the pockets are not deep and so unless they had exceptional insurance they will go out of business and restart under a new name.
What a tragedy. So sorry for the family and friends.
As for the Limo company that did not follow the laws, they will likely be held accountable regardless if the permit/inspection may have averted this tragedy.
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 @HarryJuku I think I'd like to help you emigrate to the moon via a swift kick in the posterior region.
@HarryJuku Have you considered removing yourself from the gene pool?Â
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@HarryJuku  You should still consider removing yourself.
 @HarryJuku You are horrible! This little girl was BORN in the united states..her GRANDPARENTS came here LEGALLY from Cuba!
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At least get it right in your tiny little mind, bambinos refers to little Italian children!
 @HarryJuku Even if she was an illegal 'alien'....she was a CHILD that died. How very horrible of you to think of such a thing, during this tragedy.Â
 @ThankfulMotherAndWife.  @HarryJuku The girl could have been better supervised, but the company is the one that clearly messed up big time. Such a shame...
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Plenty of legal U.S. citizens still practice traditions from their family's country of origin. My family still places our shoes with carrots (for Santa's reindeer) out on the front doorstep on Christmas Eve thanks to Oma und Opa Hinkle. The kids think it's fantastic to find them filled with goodies the next morning. Â It's part of belonging to a melting pot.
 @thewhitechickoj  @ThankfulMotherAndWife.  @HarryJuku Yeah, it's OK to celebrate your heritage if you are Italian or Irish or German, etc., but Mexican? Not so much.
So, if the bus had the proper permits, the girl wouldn't have fallen out the window?
@jpk If the bus had had the proper safety inspections, it very well may have been avoided.
 @oh4FS  @jpk Not likely avoidable. I doubt any bus driver checks the emergency window latches each and every time they take out their bus. Unless the mechanic inspection for permits was the day before they took the bus out, any number of things could have happened, anyone could have messed with the emergency latches, etc.. Just a terrible tragedy.
@SR @oh4FS @jpk .....You could be wrong regarding the window latches. On school busses, checking emergency window latches is part of the drivers pre-trip. An un-latched window will set off a warning buzzer. I don't know if civilian busses have these alarms, but any commercial driver worth their salt would check these in their pre-trip. Retired school bus driver.
@SR @jpk None of that will matter. The company was required to have a permit and safety inspection to operate in the City of Portland....they did not.  They are about to find out how costly NOT having a permit can be.
My heart aches for the Hernandez family. What a senseless tragedy.
@DeaconBugg I hope this family sues the pants off of the bus company and hope they are fined heaviely. This did not have to happen.
 @Timothy Walker  @DeaconBugg So why would the parents or adults on the bus allow the girl to be  standing on the seat pushing on a window in the first place.