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A medical condition might have caused a 44-year-old city bus driver Monday afternoon to crash through a 170-year-old wall at historic Kawaiaha‘o Church, seriously injuring himself in the accident.
"We suspect that there was a medical issue of some kind," Oahu Transit Services President Roger Morton said Tuesday. "We’re not sure what kind of medical issue it was. There’ll be further evaluations by medical people over the next days and weeks."
The driver, who hasn’t been identified, remains hospitalized in a lot of pain, suffering from a knee injury, Morton said.
Morton said he couldn’t recall in his 30-plus years with Oahu Transit Services ever having such an accident.
"We have had medical emergencies and issues with drivers before, but this is the first where we had a bad accident where it was because of a medical issue," he said.
OTS requires drivers to take physical examinations every two years, and more if needed.
"In this case, this employee had no restrictions on his driving ability," Morton said.
The out-of-service bus was heading makai on Punchbowl Street in the left turn lane and should have turned left on South King Street to park at the Alapai Transit Center.
Instead the bus plowed straight into the wall. Two college choral singers headed to the church for a concert were on the street corner and forced to flee. The accident occurred just before 5:30 p.m.
Morton was thankful the bus was empty and no one was injured.
Bill Haole, vice chairman of Kawaiaha‘o’s board of trustees, said the walls of the historic stone church were built in 1842 with hand-hewn blocks of coral. Extra coral pieces along with limestone and basalt were used to build the wall, later reinforced with concrete.
Aside from the damaged wall, a pillar at the entryway was extensively damaged, and the entire length of the wall on South King Street has cracks, he said. Oahu Transit Services’ self-insurance program will pay for the repairs.
Haole said the church’s focus, however, is the driver’s welfare, not the wall, which can be rebuilt.