Woman killed as bus, truck collide on Hwy. 116

An 86-year-old Rohnert Park woman was killed Thursday afternoon when a Sonoma County Paratransit bus collided with a flatbed truck south of Sebastopol.

Marielle Struckus, a passenger on the small bus, died after the truck driver veered into oncoming traffic about 1 p.m. on Gravenstein Highway South near Llano Road.

The truck driver, Jose Trinidad Cazares, 36 of Petaluma, told California Highway Patrol officers that he veered the truck in order to avoid hitting a stopped vehicle.

Cazares and three others received what officers described as minor injuries. They included the paratransit driver, Shirley Ottem, 55, of Santa Rosa, and two passengers riding in the truck. Their names weren’t immediately available.

The vehilcles collided on Old Gravenstein Highway/Highway 116 near Llano Road about 1 p.m. crash.

CHP Officer Juan Leon said it appeared the truck was westbound and trying to turn left into a driveway when it struck the oncoming, eastbound bus.

Both vehicles suffered major front-end damage.

The woman who died was seated in the front of the bus, where the impact occurred, Gold Ridge Fire Chief Andy Pforsich said.

The crash blocked traffic on Highway 116, backing up motorists in both directions.

In addition to the wreckage, fuel, cement and bags of plaster were scattered across the road.

Authorities were detouring traffic around the site on Daywall Road.