NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – An Elk Grove man has been formally identified by authorities as the driver of a FedEx semi truck involved in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 5 near Orland last week that killed 10 people and injured dozens more.
On Tuesday evening, Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said the driver of the FedEx semi was 32-year-old Timothy Paul Evans.
Evans was in a FedEx-owned 2007 Volvo semi pulling two trailers traveling southbound near Orland shortly after 5:40 p.m. Thursday, April 10, when – for reasons that are still not known – he crossed the median, sideswiped a Nissan Altima and collided head-on with a 2014 Setra motorcoach operated by Silverado Stages of San Luis Obispo.
Evans was among the 10 people who died in the crash, along with the bus driver, and five Southern California students and three chaperones traveling to an April 11 event for prospective students at Humboldt State University, according to the investigating agencies.
Another 34 people were injured, among them additional students, and Bonnie Duran, driver of the Nissan Altima, and her husband Joe of Lake Tapps, Wash.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jones released the names of three other crash victims identified by his agency, including the driver of the bus, Talalelei Feleni Lealao-Taiao, 53, of Sacramento; Michael Lee Myvett Jr., 29, of Los Angeles, a chaperone on the bus trip; Ismael Jimenez, age 18, a student from Inglewood, as Lake County News has reported.
Last week, Humboldt State said Arthur Arzola, one of its admissions office staffers who was accompanying the students on their trip, was among the victims.
The Glenn County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office is working to finish the identifications on the remaining victims, Jones said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which sent a team from Washington, DC to Orland last week, said its investigators are remaining on scene for the next several days.
NTSB Board Member Mark Rosekind said this week that Evans had traveled from Sacramento to Weed earlier on the day of the crash. There, he dropped off two trailers and picked up two others. The front trailer at the time of the crash was partially loaded, with the second trailer empty.
Investigators are collecting manifests to determine the specifics of that partial load, especially if there was any hazardous material that the load included, Rosekind said.
Bonnie Duran told the NTSB that she saw flames coming out from underneath the cab of the FedEx truck before it sideswiped her and hit the motorcoach head on.
However, Rosekind said this week, “Our fire group has examined the accident scene and vehicles. There is no evidence of pre-impact fire located at the accident scene, on the median or on the highway.”
NTSB investigators also said that tire marks indicated the FedEx truck didn't brake while traveling through the median or into the northbound lanes.
It was after the truck and bus hit head-on that the vehicles burst into flames, according to the initial investigative reports.
The history and safety of that stretch of Interstate 5 – which was constructed in 1964 – also is being reviewed, according to Rosekind.
The average daily traffic of Interstate 5 in that area totals 23,400 vehicles, 21 percent of which are commercial motor vehicles, he said.
In the past five years, there have been 109 crashes in a 10-mile radius of the April 10 crash scene. Of those, one was fatal, and there were no previous crossover median crashes, Rosekind said.
The area has 58-foot-wide medians lined with oleander bushes. He said that when medians are wider than 50 feet, barriers are an option and are not required.
The NTSB has been asking for witnesses to make reports to law enforcement or to contact them directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Rosekind said followup interviews with witnesses will take place in conjunction with the NTSB and the California Highway Patrol.
On Tuesday, CHP also issued a request for public assistance in its ongoing investigation.
The CHP is asking for any witnesses or anyone with information about the crash – including photographs and video – to contact CHP Officer Lacey Heitman of the Northern Division Office, telephone 530-225-2715 or email, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.