Report details collision, fire that ruined Fort Smith bus

Courtesy Photo/FORT SMITH FIRE DEPARTMENT Fort Smith firefighters extinguished a large fire Thursday that started on a city bus involved in a crash on Zero Street, requiring passengers to escape through windows before rescuers arrived.
Courtesy Photo/FORT SMITH FIRE DEPARTMENT Fort Smith firefighters extinguished a large fire Thursday that started on a city bus involved in a crash on Zero Street, requiring passengers to escape through windows before rescuers arrived.

FORT SMITH -- The driver of a city transit bus failed to yield when it was struck Thursday by an oncoming car driven by a man without a driver's license, a Police Department accident report said.

The collision ruptured a compressed natural gas tank on the 2016 Ford that burst into flames and destroyed the bus, causing $50,000 in damage, the report said. None of the four passengers on the bus or the driver of the other vehicle were seriously injured in the accident.

The 14-page report released Tuesday afternoon said Deshon Lee Smith, 20, of Fort Smith was cited for driving without a license. The driver of the transit bus, Andy Cedric O'Brien, 62, of Mulberry, was not cited, though the accident report listed failure to yield right of way as "driver actions at time of crash."

The report said Smith was driving a 1993 Honda Accord west on Zero Street at 8:14 a.m. approaching the intersection of Jenny Lind Road, where O'Brien was turning the eastbound bus left across oncoming lanes onto Jenny Lind Road to head north.

O'Brien told police that he was in the left turn lane where the light was flashing a yellow arrow. He said he didn't see any oncoming traffic when he began his turn but was struck by the Honda that was traveling in the outside lane of the four-lane Zero Street, according to the report.

Smith told police that he was westbound on Zero Street and was being followed closely by a black Hyundai Sonata. The Sonata was close to the rear of his vehicle, and he had to accelerate to keep the vehicle from running into the back of his car, he told police. He said he was driving about 45 mph, according to the report.

The posted speed limit on that stretch of Zero Street is 40 mph.

The accident narrative said the officer spoke to two passengers from the bus, Joni and Robert Stevens, who said the Honda was traveling at a high rate of speed and that they believed there was nothing the bus driver could do to avoid the accident.

State Desk on 04/17/2019

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