By Bay City News
A doctor aboard a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus came to the rescue after a car clipped the bus near the city's Panhandle on Thursday evening.
Dr. Frank Primus, 36, was a passenger on a 43-Masonic bus that Muni officials said hit a car making an illegal turn near Fell Street and Masonic Avenue around 6:20 p.m. Thursday.
Primus, a resident in the surgery department at University of California at San Francisco, was heading to his home in Mill Valley and was at the beginning of his commute across the Golden Gate Bridge when the crash happened.
He recounted rushing to the driver's seat and stopping the bus because the operator apparently was fazed by the collision.
Primus said after the car clipped the bus, there was a big impact that jolted the bus and sent the roughly dozen passengers bouncing around inside.
He said after the crash, the car was caught in the bus' bike rack and that the bus kept moving forward and the bus driver was just sitting there.
"For whatever reason it stunned him," Primus said by phone this morning.
Primus, who had been on his cellphone during the crash, rushed to the front of the bus when he realized the bus was still moving, was heading into the park and had already jumped the curb.
He said he thought the bus driver had suffered a heart attack or stroke.
When he approached the driver, he saw that the man had his eyes open and he was conscious and appeared to be in shock, repeating that the car had cut him off.
After asking some questions to make sure the driver was OK, Primus made a decision to step on the brakes himself, which finally stopped the bus before it entered Fell Street.
Primus said he then instructed the driver to put the bus in park and turn it off, and the driver was able to follow the simple directions.
He said he called his friend back and said, "You cannot believe what just happened."
After the incident, Primus said some people thanked him for his swift action.
Thursday was also his 36th birthday and the day before he started his residency at UCSF.
He said the incident was perhaps good practice for trauma situations he may encounter in the medical field.
Primus was modest though about his role in the accident.
"I'm just glad no one really got hurt," he said.
The bus driver was taken to San Francisco General Hospital for a complaint of back pain.
The car's driver refused medical aid, Muni spokesman Paul Rose said. No one else was injured.
San Francisco police said this morning that they are waiting for a report from Muni about the incident before deciding whether to cite the car driver.
Copyright © 2012 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
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