LOS ANGELES, CA – Bailee Rios, the Simi Valley woman charged with two counts of murder in a fatal Metro bus crash in Chatsworth, was due back in San Fernando court Monday, Nov. 2, to set a date for her preliminary hearing, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Rios, 36, remains in custody on $4.1 million bail and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. She is accused in a collision that happened at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the intersection of Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue.
Two bus passengers, Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31, died. Others were taken to hospitals.
The hearing Monday was scheduled to set the date on which prosecutors will present their case before a judge. An arrest is not a conviction, and the allegations remain subject to the criminal court process.
Crash at Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue
The Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division investigated the crash, according to an LAPD news release. The department said a gray 2004 Ford Expedition was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of De Soto Avenue when it ran a red light at Nordhoff Street.
The department said the SUV nearly struck a vehicle traveling eastbound on Nordhoff before it collided with a Metro bus traveling in the same direction. The impact fully ejected one passenger from the bus and partially ejected a second.
Debris from the crash damaged a blue 2024 Honda CR-V that was stopped facing northbound on De Soto Avenue at Nordhoff Street.
Metro said a Line 166 bus traveling eastbound on Nordhoff Street was struck by a vehicle traveling southbound on De Soto Avenue. The agency thanked the Los Angeles Fire Department and the LAPD for their prompt response.
Two passengers killed, others hospitalized
Castillo and Weida were pronounced dead. Metro confirmed two fatalities in a statement to reporters and extended its condolences to their families.
The agency said six people were taken to a hospital. The district attorney’s office said at least five others were injured, two of them critically.
Rios was pulled from the wreckage and taken to a hospital for treatment. She was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Charges filed by the district attorney
The district attorney’s office charged Rios with two counts of murder, one felony count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury and one felony count of reckless driving on a highway causing specified injury, according to a news release issued Sept. 17. The case number is 26SFCF01880.
Prosecutors allege Rios was driving alone at a high rate of speed on the wrong side of the road when she ran the red light and crashed into an in-service Metro bus carrying passengers.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in the release that Rios allegedly made the choice to drive while impaired on the wrong side of the road through a red light “well above the speed limit,” which put the lives of those in her path in danger. According to initial reports, narcotics were allegedly recovered from her vehicle.
Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould of the office’s DUI Training and Prosecution Section is prosecuting the case. If Rios is convicted as charged, she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Prosecutors asked the court to set bail at $4.1 million.
Not guilty plea after postponed arraignments
Rios was originally scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 18 in Department S of the San Fernando Courthouse. Her arraignment was postponed several times, and at one point she appeared in court on a gurney.
She is represented by a public defender. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Hare granted Rios a medical waiver in late September that allows her to skip routine court appearances because of injuries from the crash. He set her next appearance for Nov. 2.
What a preliminary hearing decides
A preliminary hearing is the stage at which prosecutors lay out their evidence and a judge decides whether a defendant will stand trial. Monday’s appearance was not that hearing. It was a scheduling step to set the date on which that review will take place.
The outcome of Monday’s appearance was not available at the time of writing.
Separate helicopter crash nearby
A news helicopter crashed in the Chatsworth area about two hours after the bus collision, killing three people. Mayor Karen Bass said on the night of the crashes that she was devastated by the loss of life and that five Angelenos had been lost, counting the bus collision and the helicopter crash.
Bass described it as a heartbreaking night for the city. The district attorney’s charges against Rios relate only to the bus collision.
Preliminary hearing date to be set
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department.
Rios remains in custody on $4.1 million bail while the court sets her preliminary hearing date. The charges against her remain allegations, and the case continues in San Fernando Superior Court.
