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Car Fleeing CHP Causes AC Transit Bus to Plow Into Oakland Home

OAKLAND (KPIX) -- An Oakland resident got quite a scare when a car involved in a CHP pursuit caused an AC Transit bus to plow into his home on the corner of 10th and Market streets Friday afternoon.

Luckily the homeowner, Daryl Meshack, wasn't hurt but he said he was upstairs in his home at the time of the crash. Meshack is a disabled Vietnam Veteran, bound to a wheelchair, and he tried to get people's attention after the AC bus came to a stop in the living room.

"I'm looking at everybody, I could read your lips and everybody calling my name and I said 'hey, I'm up here' and nobody can hear me."

After the initial shock, he realized he was OK and turned his attention to the bus driver.

"Because of the sheet rock and stuff on the wall, I could not see inside of the bus but I could hear this man and the moan was very painful," Meshack recalled.

He called 911 but heard a busy signal the first two times then, on the third attempt, he got through to dispatchers but by then officers were already at the scene.

At that point, Meshack knew this was more than just a crash.

"I said this had to be a chase because too many things happened in this neighborhood where it takes 10 to 15 minutes for an officer to get here. They were here in less than three minutes."

The California Highway Patrol confirmed that the silver Toyota involved is a stolen car. According to AC Transit, the car ran a red light, striking the bus and causing it to veer off the street. Two people on the bus as well as the driver complained of minor injuries and four occupants in the Toyota were also injured.

"This is not the first time his house has been hit by a car," said neighbor Stephanie White-Tillman. "This corner is just a magnet for accidents."

One of the women injured on the bus was also a resident of the neighborhood. She was taken to the hospital with head injuries.

Meshack was left with a gaping hole in his house.

He says that city crews told him they couldn't help board-up his home since it was on personal property.

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