Students sue over Belmont school crash

Two of the 13 students injured during an accident at Ralston Middle School last year filed lawsuits naming the driver who lost control of his car, the city of Belmont and the school district seeking compensation for medical expenses and grief among other things.

At approximately 12:30 p.m. May 2, Redwood City resident Mauro Yan lost control of his sport-utility vehicle and plowed into a group of students waiting to board a SamTrans bus. As of this month, two of 13 injured students filed a suit. The first, filed last July in the name of Alexander Cano, only names Yan. Most recently, a suit for 15-year-old Ian Wikle was filed naming Yan, the Belmont-Redwood Shores Elementary School District, the city of Belmont, the San Mateo County Transit District, former vice principal David Schrag and SamTrans employee Larry Glenn.

Calls to the Wikle residence were not returned.

Wikle suffered head lacerations, which was "peeled like an orange,” his father Richard Wikle described outside the Stanford emergency room last year. His son received about 20 stitches to attach the flap of the scalp ripped from the back of his head, he described at the time.

The suit, filed April 9, alleges barriers between the parking lot and student loading area would have prevented the tragedy. Additionally, it suggests the parking lot was designed incorrectly or an improper size.

Wikle’s attorney Quinton Cutlip declined to comment further. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for medical bills, the value of make-up time at school, the value of any lost earning capacity Wikle suffered and mental suffering.

The first suit was filed July 24 in the name of Alexander Cano. Cano suffered serious fractures and a bad burn, said his attorney Richard Simons. The family decided only to sue Yan, Simons explained, based on who they felt was responsible for the accident.

A May 19 jury trial is scheduled for Cano’s case. This may change, however, now that another suit was filed, said Simons.

The accident occurred when Yan came to the school to collect his granddaughter and lost control of his vehicle in the school parking lot, hitting a SamTrans bus before striking a group of children waiting to board the bus. Thirteen injured students were sent to various hospitals. The four sent to Stanford were among the most seriously injured. Injuries included a lacerated liver, pelvic injury, head laceration and an internal head injury. In June, the Belmont Police Department announced driver error was behind the crash noting the driver hit the gas rather than the brake. Later that month, the District Attorney’s Office decided not to press criminal charges.

The accident prompted school administrators to review safety efforts on campus. Part of the changes included an educational effort geared toward parents and students, according to an October school board report written by Assistant Superintendent Penny Weaver. Belmont police partnered with Ralston Principal Jennifer Kollmann over the summer to prepare new measures. The front parking lot was striped, trees were trimmed and drivers are encouraged not to make left turns out of the parking lot between 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Police monitored traffic the first two weeks of school and safety meetings were held for both parents and students near the beginning of the school year.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.