Girl, 11, dies after falling out of bus window
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PORTLAND, Ore. – An 11-year-old girl died Saturday night after she fell out of a party bus in Downtown Portland, police said.
Family and friends were riding the bus to a quinceanera party, a Latino celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.
Angie Hernandez leaned against an emergency window when it opened, family members said. Police are calling the death a tragic accident. She died at the scene.
Hernandez was a 6th grader at Rowe Middle School in Milwaukie.
There were between 20 and 30 people on the bus, many of them children, when Hernandez fell out.
“We were so happy for this day. We were waiting for this day for so long. We were all so excited,” said Hernandez’s uncle Roberto Avelaneda. “I don’t have words to explain. We’re really upset about it.”
The bus full of children turned from Southwest 1st Avenue onto Harrison Street at around 6 p.m. when Hernandez fell out of the window. Family members told KATU News she fell out after a group photo was taken on the bus.
“Those emergency exits are designed to be secured and closed and locked,” said Portland Police spokesman Robert King. “One of the questions I know investigators will be asking is how it came to be open, whether it was faulty.”
No criminal charges have been filed.
The involved bus is owned by Five Star Limousine in Portland. The driver has not been identified.
"The driver that went out that day would have gone through and checked everything," said Five Star general manager Rick Lycksell.
Lycksell said the driver does not have a commercial driver's license, but is in the process of getting one. According to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles, a commercial driver's license is required to drive a vehicle containing more than 16 passengers.
Police took the bus away Saturday night as part of their investigation.
"When they're done with it, we'll get rid of it," said Lycksell. "I don't ever want to see that bus again."
Hernandez was a 6th grader at Rowe Middle School in Milwaukie. Her family set up a memorial fund to help pay for funeral costs. Donations to the "Angie Hernandez memorial fund" can be made at any U.S. Bank branch.
My condolences to the family. How sad, but a party bus? What was she doing on a party bus and where are the parents at?
How sad... My thoughts go to the family in this dark time for them.
How did she fall out the window? The seat she was supposed to be in was 2 or 3 feet lower. It's very sad regardless of why she was leaning on the window. Maybe their needs to be an alarm on the window levers that goes off when one of them is up. This would discourage kids from screwing with them and maybe cause parents to parent a little more.
My condolences to the family.Â
I remember my quinceanera well. We went to the DMV, any public school we could find, as well as every emergency room in the area.  Then we cooked up some illegal drugs then drove drunk home.
 @ryanmang It appears that you are still drunk!
How sad. Why was she sitting on the back of the seat with her weight up against the window? Were there any adults on board, or was the driver expected to drive and watch all the kids at the same time? Poor kid must have hit her head when she landed. RIP, Sweetie.
In court the bus company is responsible to maintain a safe operating environment while the bus is in operation. They will loose if this goes to trial.
 @Glenn PierceÂ
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I seriously doubt the company is responsible. Can you prove this? I'm pretty sure most bust companies are LLC.
 @Kotak  @Glenn Pierce Liability is only limited if not caused by gross negligence. It sounds like the driver should have had a CDL or a permit with a supervising driver. As far as I know, CDLs don't work the same as food handler permits where you have 30 days to get one but can still be on the job. Having a driver without the proper license could be deemed gross negligence which will usually override the LLC protection.
 @WhyWhyWhy  @Kotak  @Glenn Pierce The bus company will be out of business over this. Although this is NOT the drivers fault, you cant put an unlicensed driver behind the wheel. I am a former Safety Director of a motorcoach company, and operated motorcoaches for several years. The owners of this company better lawyer up very quickly.
 @Glenn Pierce bus*
My boyfriend and I were running along the waterfront and stopped to admire the beautiful pictures you were taking. Please accept my condolences to your family. May God comfort you in this time. Gina
A tragic loss of a beautiful little girl. So sorry to all the family she leaves behind.
In order to have "leaned against an emergency window"Â one must be standing, which means the driver failed to maintain safe conditions on the bus. This accident was the fault of the driver.
 @WTFWTF You dont have a clue.
 @WTFWTF With that thinking what about all of the Tri-Met bus drivers that drive through town with people standing in the isles, holding on to the bars. Â
Just watched the coverage of this story on KATU. The reporter HAD to sit on the back of the seat in order to push the window out with his back. If the child had been sitting in he seat, there is no way she could have fallen out the window. TRAGIC because there was apparently very poor adult supervision
that's right blame the  bus. How about the adults were not watching as the little girl open the locks on the window then pushed it open and fell out.
Sad story. Think back on all the stories you know about where kids were hurt, the actually event took well less than a second.
While I feel sympathy for the victim's loved ones.(I hope I don't spund direpectful)I have often wondered how safe are these party busses? I often see them downtown packed full of kids jumping around or dancing usually mixed with booze.If the bus maken sudden stop or swerves,there is the chance people getting trampled.The volume of the music insanely loud.Way too many distractions for the driver.IMHO
Sound disrespectful" geez
Like this facebook page if you want to honor the girl who died  http://www.facebook.com/RipAngieHernandez
I would like to bow my head in a moment of silence for this precious little angel and say a prayer.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Very tragic accident! Proves the saying, "Life comes at you fast!"
sad......
Well, I don't know exactly what happened here - or why; I wasn't there. Â Â But putting that aside just for a moment, this sounds like what should have been a fun family/friends event, and it turned tragic in the space of a few seconds. Â Â
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Condolences to the family and friends of that young teen... parents should not have to bury their 11-year-old kids...
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 @JLO ~  Well, as it's been explained to me by Latino friends/co-workers, the quinceanera party is the equivalent of our "Sweet 16" party... It's sort of a "coming-of-age" celebration... Most cultures have them, but they're called different things, of course.. and there are slightly different ages involved.
@margay1 @JLO Well said. It is nice to see othersÂ
understand other cultures are celebrated here as well.
I love that the victim-blaming bottom feeders and racists are crawling out from under their rocks on this story, but everybody's "praying for the family" of the strangled white kid over here:Â http://www.katu.com/news/local/Sheriffs-Helmet-strap-strangled-boy-on-zip-line-171882191.html
 @taiganaut Why refer to Caucasians as "white"? They're usually a slight brownish hue but can range to a few shades darker when more melanin is in the skin. But they also tend to be red when sunburned, green when ill, purple when enraged, blue when cold, yellow when jaundiced, black when charred, gray when dead...so "white" is hardy fitting at all.
 @taiganaut I fail to see your reasoning here. I haven't seen any racist remarks in these post. I suppose if a person is predisposed to find something they will find whatever no matter where they look.
 @Razor1  @taiganaut A long time ago someone told me, "It's impossible to point out someones prejudice without revealing your own." Those people who see racism wherever they look are usually revealing more than they mean to.
 @taiganaut AH! More words of wisdom from one of America's moral compasses, you wild and crazy liberal!
 @taiganaut So you just felt the need to join the racists?
Very sad, but a lesson to not be jumping around on a moving vehicle. My guess would be that the scene inside the "party vehicle" was pretty chaotic, and  another child was fooling around, pulling levers and turning handles. Hope the bus had an internal video recording system installed.
 @badcat Blame the victim. Cute!
@taiganaut Sorry to say, accidents (unplanned tragic events) ARE often caused by their vicims. "Don't blame the victim" isn't a one-size-fits-all rant.
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Having tried to explained that, I'm so sorry for little Angie, whose own
quinceanera will be in four years with the angels. So sad.
When that emergency exit is opened on a party bus, it is almost always done by the people in the bus who want to stick their head or body out the window. It is very tragic, especially for someone so young but yes, I'm guessing that she did something foolish like open the emergency exit and then lean out.
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So who wasn't doing the chaperoning job? The story referred to 20 or 30 people on the bus, not all of whom were children, so there must have been some adults aboard.Â
 @jpk So are parents supposed to be like "don't lean on that window" or something the second it happens?
 @portlandborn83  @jpk No.  Parents are supposed to be like, "don't lean on that window" BEFORE something happens.  Repeatedly, if necessary.  It's called being a parent.
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You know this has nothing to do with trimet right? Did you read the article? @portlandborn83Â
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thats an awful thing to say. just awful. you should be ashamed of yourself.i am sure your mother would be if she read this.
 @mstercor His mother is probably his sister as well.