4 teens remain hospitalized a day after stolen car struck MTA bus in East Baltimore, police say

Four teenagers remain hospitalized, two in critical condition, a day after police say they crashed a stolen red sedan into a Maryland Transit Administration bus in East Baltimore, authorities said Friday.

The crash injured 16 people ranging in age from 14 to 78 years old, officials said. Four toddlers — three 2-year-olds and one 3-year-old — on the bus were uninjured, said Chakia Fennoy, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department. The bus driver and occupants had non-life-threatening injuries, Fennoy said.

Of the four teens in the sedan, a 16-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl were in critical but stable condition Friday, Fennoy said. A 15-year-old boy was stable while a 17-year-old boy was in serious condition.

The crash happened early Thursday afternoon at the intersection of East Oliver and North Wolfe streets. On Friday, a side mirror cover, a tire lining and wheel, tiny pieces of glass, car part remnants and two Uno playing cards lay around the intersection.

Shanette Green, 46, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, said she was frying chicken when she heard a loud boom. Green said she ran to the door and saw the car spinning out of control.

The red Hyundai Elantra was reported stolen from the 1200 block of North Calvert Street around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Lindsey Eldridge, a Baltimore Police spokesperson. When officers spotted it roughly six hours later, they began following the car and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, Police Commissioner Richard Worley said at a news conference Thursday.

Police have not shared how long officers trailed the vehicle or how fast the Hyundai and police vehicle were going.

Police had a Foxtrot helicopter tracking the car, Worley said. Officers observed the Hyundai, which was traveling eastbound on East Oliver Street, crash into the bus as it traveled south on North Wolfe Street, police said.

East Oliver has a stop sign at the intersection, North Wolfe does not. North Wolfe is a one-way street.

Mayor Brandon Scott suggested that problems with the juvenile justice system were partly to blame. “Think about what happened yesterday — all those people on the bus injured. That did not have to happen if our system was functioning in a much better way,” he told reporters.

MTA Administrator Tony Bridges said in an email that bus operators are taught to continuously scan and anticipate hazards.

“We teach operators to constantly ask themselves: ‘What is around my bus? What could enter my path? Where is my escape space? What has changed since my last mirror check?’” Bridges said.

“MTA is committed to the safety of our riders and operators. The rigorous and intensive training our bus operators must master before transporting one customer underscores that commitment,” Bridges said.

Eldridge, a police department spokesperson, said an investigation into the collision is active and ongoing.

According to Green and others on the block, a mix of owner-occupied and blighted homes, crashes at the intersection just north of Johns Hopkins Hospital are a regular occurrence. At one point, some said, it felt like they were happening every week.

“We want a light there,” Green said. “Don’t nobody pay them stop signs no mind.”