3 Inmates Hurt as Bus Plunges Off Farm Road

A bus plummeted down a 20-foot embankment at a county jail farm in Castaic early Sunday, critically injuring one of six prisoners aboard, authorities said.

Two of the other prisoners were hospitalized and are listed in fair condition, and the remaining prisoners and the bus driver, Randall Kuntz, 26, were treated and released at local hospitals.

The bus was carrying the inmates from the minimum-security section of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho to milk cows at the compound’s dairy about 1:15 a.m. when the accident occurred, Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokeswoman Roxanna Schuchman said.

On Life Support

The most seriously injured prisoner, Benjamin Ortiz, 28, suffered head injuries and was placed on life-support systems at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, Schuchman said. Ortiz was listed in critical condition Sunday, she said.

The other injured prisoners, Robert Green, 24, and Daniel Salazar, 28, were said to be in fair condition Sunday at the hospital, while Eugene Guzman, 20, Ronnie Gatica, 21, and Anthony Romero, 22, were treated and released, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Their hometowns were not available.

According to California Highway Patrol Officer Ray Guillory, the bus was traveling slightly downhill on a newly paved road when the driver went around a curve and lost control of the vehicle.

Slid Down Bank

The 36-passenger, county-owned bus then slid down the embankment onto its right side, authorities said.

The California Highway Patrol and sheriff’s investigators were attempting to determine the cause of the accident, Schuchman said.

The facility, on a 2,800-acre site near the Golden State Freeway and Biscailuz Drive in the Santa Clarita Valley, has an estimated 5,800 prisoners in minimum-, medium- or maximum-security facilities, Schuchman said. In addition to working at the dairy farm, the inmates raise cattle and hogs for meat, operate a bakery and grow crops, she said.