Tour bus driver to appear in court on misdemeanor charges

The driver of a tour bus that crashed Sept. 7 near Coaldale in Esmeralda County will appear in court Dec. 18 to face six misdemeanor charges.

Esmeralda County District Attorney Patty Cafferata said Lotfali Rankouh, 54, of San Diego faces a charge of failure to exercise due care and five charges related to federal transportation violations, including some log book violations.

"One of the worst ones is that he reported in his log that he left Tonopah after the time of the crash," she said.

The Dec. 18 hearing will be an arraignment where Rankouh may either deny or admit the charges. If he denies the charges a trial will be set. If he admits them he will be subject to sentencing.

The bus swerved back and forth before it flipped on its side on U.S. Highway 6 about 30 miles north of Tonopah. All 41 people on board were injured, 15 of them seriously.

Many of the injured were flown to hospitals in Reno and Las Vegas because of the remote location of Tonopah, which is 208 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The bus, operated by California Sun Line, was heading from Las Vegas to Mammoth Lakes, Calif., when the rollover occurred.