Downey Bus Company Carrying Corona Del Mar Teen Denied License by PUC in February 2014

Leon’s Party Rental Bus, photo taken from Yelp account

By Tammye McDuff

A 17 year old senior at Corona del Mar High School narrowly escaped serious injury the evening of Saturday, June 7^th.

Traveling south on the 73 toll highway, 55 high school students left dinner, high on anticipation of celebrating their Senior Prom. One young woman, Charlotte Boyse, was allegedly dancing near a rear window when it unexpectedly opened.

Now investigations have revealed that the California Public Utilities Commission denied Leon Party Rentals its Charter Class B certification in February 2014. HMG-CN was also told that there were no seat belts and that the driver did not explain safety precautions to the prom goers.

Upon further investigation, HMG-CN found that Leon’s Party Rental’s address is in Downey at 9559 Imperial Hwy. The facility is actually a warehouse and storage facility behind Hully Gully Bar which is listed at the same address.

When HMG-CN attempted to talk to someone at the facility, neither the rental facility nor the bar was open and no one was available for comment.

David Leon, owner of Leon Party Bus has put his company phones on voice mail and is not returning phone calls.

In an interview wit CBS, Boyse said, “my back is pretty bad, I had some skin ripped off, with severe road rash. It is just a little hard to believe that my injuries are not any worse than they are. My friends held my hand while I fell, so thankfully I fell on my back and tailbone. If the oncoming cars had been 15 seconds faster, I would have been hit.” Boyse sustained serious bruises and abrasions but no broken bones. She was transported to Mission Hospital and later transferred to Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

Conrad Boyse, Father and President at Peppertree Studios, a company dedicated to sport and team yearbooks stated “They held onto her for a second, a second and a half . That short time prevented her from landing on the back of her head and instead righted her so she landed on her backside. She would unquestionably be dead without them,” said the elder Boyse “This is an example of the real CdM student community. We are so grateful for the quick thinking and heroic actions of these kids, and for the outpouring of love and support for Charlotte.”

Investigators told the family the bus may have been going as fast as 70 miles per hour, but it was traveling uphill and may have been going as slowly as 25 miles per hour. Initially the driver did not slow down or stop. Upon insistence from the other students, the party bus pulled to the side of the road about a half a mile down. The bus driver didn’t allow any of the students to get out of the bus, but a couple friends jumped out the window and ran back to find the injured girl.

Eyewitnesses stated “just past Newport Coast drive, going south on the 73 toll road, a whole bunch of kids started running across the freeway in their prom dresses and tuxes. I saw a girl start crawling across to the center divider.”

“The Corona del Mar High School community has been amazing,” Maria Boyse, mother said. “The support has been overwhelming.” She also said she wanted to thank the couple who stopped and called for help but did not know how to contact them. Conrad Boyse added “The X-rays and CAT scans show no head impact or broken anything!” Laura Boss, Director of CdM District Communications, told HMG “We have been advised that the student is home recovering and plans to return to school next Monday.”