Survivor recalls bus crash terror

Associated Press

Originally published 09:50 a.m., January 8, 2008
Updated 10:59 a.m., January 8, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY — Richard Scarborough was watching a movie on his laptop. The next moment, he felt the tour bus skid off a curve and roll over in southeastern Utah and heard the windows explode.

The 45-year-old information-technology manager from Phoenix slowly regained consciousness thinking he was inside the mangled bus and needed to get out Sunday night. Then he discovered he had been thrown 30 feet after the roof peeled off.

"I got up on one knee and could hear people screaming," Scarborough said today from a Blanding, Utah, motel, recalling the horrific crash that killed nine Phoenix-area skiers and injured 20 others returning from Telluride.

"I could hardly move in the pitch darkness. I just couldn't focus on where people were at. I took a best guess and moved toward my first friend and put my hands on his neck looking for a pulse," Scarborough said.

His ski buddy, Jeffrey Rivera, 32, of Gilbert, Ariz., was dead.

Scarborough crawled a few feet and, by the light of a cell phone, found the son of another friend face down in the mud. Joseph Debolske, 18, of Scottsdale, Ariz., also was dead.

Scarborough, who had broken a collar bone and torn shoulder ligaments, was among the walking wounded who rallied to care for the more seriously injured.

"We started opening suitcases, pulling out clothing, covering these people up because they're going into shock," said Scarborough, a former Air Force officer with first-aid training.

"We don't know if they have internal injuries, so we didn't let them move," he said.

Authorities were trying to figure out why the Arrow Stage Lines driver had chosen to take twisting state Route 163 through Monument Valley en route to Phoenix.

The bus plunged 41 feet and rolled several times near Mexican Hat in the Four Corners area, where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet.

Investigators planned to interview driver Welland Lotan, 71, of Gladwin, Mich., who suffered minor injuries.

Lotan also has a residence in Apache Junction, Ariz., records show. A woman answering the phone there declined to comment.

Lotan has a clean driving record in Michigan and is licensed for commercial vehicles, according to the Secretary of State.

"The two main factors we're looking at is driver error and speed," Sgt. Ted Tingey of the Utah Highway Patrol said today.

"We don't believe weather played much of a factor." The victims ranged in age from 12 to people in their 60s. All were from Arizona.