Drugs, alcohol ruled out in deadly California bus crash

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Greyhound bus driver who veered off a rain-slickened Northern California highway in a crash that killed two women and injured several others was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, authorities said Wednesday.

The 58-year-old driver, who was briefly hospitalized, told investigators that he was tired and stopped for coffee about 30 miles before the bus plowed into safety barrels on U.S. 101 and flipped onto a center divider, California Highway Patrol Officer Christopher Miceli said.

An on-board camera was recovered from the wrecked 2014 MCI motor coach, but the video has not yet been viewed, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Jennifer Morrison told reporters at a towing yard in Gilroy where the bus is stored.

Federal investigators will examine the bus for mechanical and structure defects while looking into road conditions and the driver's actions before the wreck, Morrison said.

Seven people have died in six Greyhound bus accidents over the past two years before Tuesday's wreck, according to federal transportation officials.