Olivia Gamboa
Los Angeles Metro bus operator and SMART TD member Olivia Gamboa, 47, died early June 12 after a head-on crash with a speeding flatbed tow truck while operating her bus. A member of SMART TD Local 1563 at El Monte, Calif., she was transported to a hospital in critical condition and later died. According to television station KTLA in Los Angeles, Gamboa was a 13-year Metro veteran and a wife, mother and grandmother. The Los Angeles Times reports Gamboa came from a family of bus operators and that her husband and her daughter were also Metro employees. The tow truck driver ran a red light and collided with the bus, witnesses told police officers. The driver of the tow truck 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.