Photo Courtesy of Chino Valley Fire District

Staff Reports

CHINO HILLS-  A three-car accident tied up the Southbound 71 freeway on Friday, January 15, causing a two-hour long SigAlert and resulting in one death.

Brandon Joseph Tabita, 28, of Corona, was driving his white Ford Focus southbound on the 71 freeway around 7:20 a.m. when he was unable to slow for stopped traffic just past Pine Avenue.  He rear-ended a school bus driven by Riverside resident Irma Reyes, according to the CHP.  The bus was then pushed into a 2011 Hyundai Genesis driven by Joong Hwan Uhm of Los Angeles.

Tabita, who sustained major head injuries, was trapped in his vehicle, which ended up being wedged underneath the bus.  It took firefighters over an hour to extricate him from his vehicle, using the jaws of life.  Once free, he was flown to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.  He was pronounced dead the next day.

There were no children on the school bus at the time of the crash.  Reyes and a school district employee were transported to Chino Medical Hospital for treatment of pain.  Uhm and the passengers in his vehicle declined medical treatment.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation