Briefly in the news

-- Sue Doyle

A few scared youngsters escaped injury Monday morning when a school bus

traveling through a residential area in Costa Mesa crashed into a parked

car, sending it flying into a picket fence, authorities said.

Police did not know how many children were aboard the Newport-Mesa

Unified School District bus at the time of the crash, but witnesses said

they saw only a few.

The California Highway Patrol, which is investigating the accident, has

yet to determine its cause.

The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m., waking several residents in the sleepy

neighborhood near the 300 block of East 18th Street. Several curious

neighbors came outside to see what had happened.

John and Kim Fitzpatrick, the owners of the car hit by the bus, were

inside their house during the accident. They came outside to find their

Mercedes crumpled in their neighbor’s yard.

“We heard a big crash and came running out to see. We were shocked to see

that it was our car,” Kim Fitzpatrick said.

Luckily, the Mercedes missed a telephone pole, she said.

The school bus sustained only minimal damage.