SF Muni bus veers across Lombard Street into store, driver critically injured

A Muni bus crashed into the Days Inn on Lombard Street Monday morning, causing four injuries, according to the San Francisco Fire Department. A Muni bus crashed into the Days Inn on Lombard Street Monday morning, causing four injuries, according to the San Francisco Fire Department. Photo: Demian Bula / The Chronicle Photo: Demian Bula / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close SF Muni bus veers across Lombard Street into store, driver critically injured 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

A veteran San Francisco Muni driver was hospitalized in critical condition and three passengers were injured after a bus veered left over the median of Lombard Street and across three lanes of opposing traffic before crashing into a tree, a van and a dry cleaning shop Monday morning, authorities said.

As a few passengers stumbled out of the eastbound 28-19th Avenue bus before dawn, a tourist whose hotel room was nearly struck by the out-of-control coach worked with an arriving city police officer to free the driver from his smashed cockpit and give him CPR before paramedics arrived.

The unidentified driver was in life-threatening condition at San Francisco General Hospital, according to police, who were working with Muni officials to find the cause of the 5:44 a.m. wreck east of Scott Street — and determine whether the driver was conscious when the bus jumped the median. The driver has worked with Muni for 38 years, said Paul Rose, an agency spokesman.

“It sounded like some kind of bomb detonation,” said Tony Daleo, whose second-floor room at the Days Inn was nearly struck by the bus. “I had just woken up and opened my eyes. I heard a loud explosion. I looked out the window and saw the bus beneath me.”

The bus had wedged between Priority Express Cleaners and a white van parked on the street, while chopping a tree into pieces. The bus flattened bushes in the median, left a gouge in Lombard Street, and came to a stop with the front half of the bus on the sidewalk and the rear portion still on Lombard.

A dash-camera video from another driver showed the front of the bus popping into the air upon impact with the curb.

“Twenty more feet,” Daleo said, “and he would have hit the corner where I was, and the gas and utilities are right there. It would have been major.”

Shannon Terschluse, a fitness instructor who lives nearby, was getting ready for work when she heard the bus slam into the tree and building.

“I could hear it and feel it in the building,” said Terschluse, who called 911. “I thought it was a dumpster truck but it was way, way louder.”

Fire Department officials reported that a total of four people were injured. Police Lt. Amy Hurwitz said one passenger was taken away in an ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries. Muni’s Rose said the passengers suffered minor injuries.

Westbound traffic on Lombard Street was blocked for hours as police investigated the crash.

Daleo, 61, of Imperial Beach (San Diego County), was staying with his girlfriend at the Days Inn as they ventured north to Canada. After the wreck, he threw on some clothes and went down to the street, where he saw two people exiting the bus with facial injuries and a third complaining of arm and shoulder pain.

He said he didn’t smell gas or see smoke, so he figured it was safe to enter the bus.

“I hit the green button and the door opened,” he said. “I went in and found the driver. He was unconscious. I felt for a pulse, but he didn’t have one. ... He was just sitting in the bus by himself. It was kind of freaky.”

The driver was pinned in his seat by the partition behind him, Daleo said. He tried to free the driver, which he eventually did with the help of the first police officer to arrive at the scene. He said he started compressions on the driver before the officer took over.

Michael Cabanatuan and Demian Bulwa are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com, dbulwa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan, @demianbulwa