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Victim of TriMet bus crash: Danielle Sale, 'an incredibly caring and kind person'
"She was an incredibly caring and kind person," said Kathy Agate, an English teacher at Fort Vancouver High School where Sale graduated in 2006. "She was always really positive and friendly. People were drawn to her."
Sale, 22, was one of two women killed Saturday night by a TriMet bus in Northwest Portland. She was with a group of friends, including her boyfriend, Robert Erik Gittings, who is in serious condition at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Sale grew up in Vancouver in a close-knit family, with her mother and father, Jeannette and David Sale, and three younger siblings, Ashley, Kayla and Joshua.
She went to Discovery Middle School and then Fort Vancouver, where she distinguished herself as an excellent student, caring friend and talented individual.
"She was one of the most outgoing people I've ever worked with," said drama teacher Sean O'Malley. "She was really mature and professional but at the same time she always had fun no matter what was going on."
She was on the softball, volleyball and fire dance teams. She was also a cheerleader and took classes in the Fort Vancouver's medical magnet program.
"She wanted to be well-rounded," said Rachel Pohan, a high school friend. "She wanted to change the world and make it a better place."
Agate, her former Advanced Placement English teacher, remembers one time telling the class that she always had her best ideas in the shower but couldn't write them down in the wet. That Christmas, Sale showed up with a present she insisted Agate open in front of the whole class.
It was a collection of soap crayons made for scribbling in the bath.
"It was sweet and funny," Agate said. "She made it sound like it was from the whole class but I knew it was her."
That's the way Sale was -- bubbly but not a showoff.
After high school she went to Boise State University for a few years, where she met her boyfriend. She returned to Vancouver last year and he came as well, even though he didn't know anyone here.
"He was a puppy dog for Danielle," Pohan said. "It was great to see her treated so well."
Sale was enrolled at Clark College and was studying phlebotomy. "Nobody can imagine that it's our Danielle who is gone," Pohan said.
Victim of TriMet bus crash: Jenee Hammel, who planned to wed in June, leaves 2-year-old son
"She had just finished all the jobs she wanted to do on her house the morning this happened," Robert Hammel said. "She also loved art, oil painting and singing. She had a constant, bubbly personality."
Jeneé Hammel's parents divorced when she was attending Madison High School in Portland, and she moved to New Jersey with her mother, Vickie, and two brothers, Ryan and Joshua.
Upon graduation, Hammel got a job as a manager of an Applebee's restaurant, where she met Dan Marciano. The couple eventually moved to Gresham, where Hammel was hired at the Gresham Applebee's, working full time until she and Marciano had a baby boy, Coby.
"We have a lot of family around him now, trying to keep him occupied," Robert Hammel said of 2-year-old Coby. "We haven't told him that his mother is gone ... but he's wondering where his mommy is at."
The couple were planning to marry in June in Portland; everything was set, right down to Hammel's wedding dress. Both Hammel and Danielle Sale, who also died Saturday night, were bridesmaids at Ryan and Jamie Hammel's wedding four months ago. Ryan and Jamie Hammel were not seriously injured when the TriMet bus turned into the group.
"They were beyond being a very tight group, they were best friends, family," Robert Hammel said.
Jeneé Hammel's husband-to-be was hired as a Gresham police officer and was scheduled to start his training at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem on Monday, Robert Hammel said. He said the department has granted Marciano a leave of absence.
"He's doing the worst of all of us," Robert Hammel said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/04/victim_of_trimet_bus_crash_jen.html
Monday, April 26, 2010
OPB
Police say it could be later this week before investigators figure out why a TriMet bus struck several pedestrians and killed two in Portland Saturday night. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.
TriMet spokeswoman, Mary Fetsch, says the bus was driven Sandi Day, who has worked for the agency since 2007.
Day was working what's called "the extra board" -- that is filling in for someone on vacation or sick. Fetsch says Day had driven the route before.
The bus turned left onto NW Broadway, struck five people and pinned three underneath.
Mary Fetsch: "You know this is absolutely unheard of. We have never had a situation like this where a bus was involved in an accident of this type. I mean we've never had two fatalities where a bus struck two people two people have died. Others are injured. I mean this is absolutely unheard of."
Jenee Hammel and Danielle Sale died. Robert Gittings is in hospital in serious condition. Ryan Hammel and his wife Jamie Hammel suffered minor injuries.
Police say they're still investigating the incident, but both the bus and the pedestrians apparently had a green light.
Investigators are checking the bus carefully to see if it malfunctioned.
TriMet is self-insured -- pay-outs come from the agency's general fund.© 2010 OPB
SANDY DAY
SANDI DAY DRIVER OF DEADLY BUS
PORTLAND,Ore. – The distraught driver of a TriMet bus that mowed over several people this morning is now being identified.Forty-eight-year-old Sandi Day was driving the out-of-service bus on TriMet's 9 route, heading west on Northwest Glisan Street before making a left turn onto Broadway Boulevard and colliding with a pack of pedestrians crossing Broadway. The bus trapped three of the walkers beneath the bus.
Two women that were trapped died – a 26 year old and a 22 year old – even as firefighters struggled to lift the bus to get them out. The third trapped pedestrian, 22-year-old Robert Gittings, suffered serious injuries and was in critical condition at a local hospital Sunday morning.
The two others in the group suffered minor injuries: 23-year-old Jamie Hammel and 28-year-old Ryan Hammel. Both were transported to area hospitals.
The accident occurred just before midnight Saturday, April 24. A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson said speed does not appear to be a factor. The bus driver is cooperating with investigators, and no arrests have been made in this incident at this time.
NEWS
Forty-eight-year-old Sandi Day was driving the out-of-service bus on TriMet's 9 route, heading west on Northwest Glisan Street before making a left turn onto Broadway Boulevard and colliding with a pack of pedestrians crossing Broadway. The bus trapped three of the walkers beneath the bus.
Two women that were trapped died – a 26 year old and a 22 year old – even as firefighters struggled to lift the bus to get them out. The third trapped pedestrian, 22-year-old Robert Gittings, suffered serious injuries and was in critical condition at a local hospital Sunday morning.
The two others in the group suffered minor injuries: 23-year-old Jamie Hammel and 28-year-old Ryan Hammel. Both were transported to area hospitals.
The accident occurred just before midnight Saturday, April 24. A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson said speed does not appear to be a factor. The bus driver is cooperating with investigators, and no arrests have been made in this incident at this time.