Services announced for Metro bus operator Gamboa

June 25, 2013

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Olivia Gamboa

Services for SMART Transportation member and Los Angeles Metro bus operator Olivia Gamboa, 47, who was killed June 12 in a head-on crash with a speeding flatbed tow truck while operating her bus, have been finalized, Bus Vice President Bonnie Morr reports.
A viewing will be held Friday, June 28, at 6 p.m. at the Rose Hills Memorial Park’s SkyRose Chapel at 3888 Workman Mill Rd. in Whittier, Calif. The telephone number for Rose Hills Memorial Park is (562) 699-0921.
Funeral services will be Saturday, June 29, at 11 a.m. at St. Benedict Catholic Church located at 1022 W. Cleveland Ave. in Montebello, Calif. The church’s telephone number is (323) 721-1184.
The funeral will be followed by interment at Rose Hills Memorial Park.
Gamboa, a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 1563 at El Monte, Calif., is survived by her husband, Bernardo, and three daughters. The Los Angeles Times reported Gamboa came from a family of bus operators and that her husband and one of her daughters were also Metro employees.
According to television station KTLA in Los Angeles, Gamboa was a 13-year Metro veteran and a grandmother.
The accident happened at S. Broadway and 5th St. at approximately 5:15 a.m. the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
The tow truck was headed southbound on Broadway when its driver ran a red light and collided with the bus, witnesses told police officers.
“A citizen estimated the tow truck was driving about 60 miles per hour,” Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Steve Dailey said. “The speed limit for here is about 30 miles per hour.”
The bus was in the intersection when it was hit and knocked down a fire hydrant, sending water high up into the air. The tow truck plowed into a nearby 7-Eleven store.
The driver of the tow truck, 43-year-old Yousef Adhami, remains hospitalized. He has had multiple suspensions and had surrendered his license after his last infraction, KTLA reported.
Gamboa is the first SMART TD member killed while on duty in 2013.
Her tragic death is not the first to be mourned by her fellow members. On May 20 last year, Los Angeles Metro bus operator Alan Thomas was murdered aboard his bus in West Hollywood, Calif., by a lone gunman. Thomas was also a member of Local 1563.