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Inattention causes driver to hit GTA bus, GCSO says

CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 month, 3 weeks AGO
by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | February 4, 2026 6:14 PM

MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man received a traffic citation Tuesday night after he T-boned a Grant Transit Authority bus near the scene of a previous collision on Patton Boulevard. 

Kyle Foreman, public information officer for the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, said the driver and passengers on the bus sustained minor injuries. Diego Olivera, 18, the driver of the vehicle, was not injured. 

Sheriff’s deputies were investigating an earlier collision near the intersection of Patton Boulevard and Loring Drive that was partially blocking the road, Foreman said. Deputies were directing traffic around the scene when Olivera drove up. Deputies motioned at him to stop, Foreman said. 

“He didn’t stop and T-boned the bus that was passing in front of him,” Foreman said. “He was not paying attention (and) he’s getting a ticket.” 

A collision scene will have law enforcement vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances around it, he said, and drivers need to look at where they’re going. 

“People need to pay attention, slow down and, if they can, move into the lane furthest from where the emergency vehicles are parked,” he said. 

The road was cleared by about 8:15 p.m. 

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