Two Injured as Mirror On Bus Destroys Shelter

Two women were injured in Northwest Washington yesterday when part of a Metrobus struck the bus shelter in which they were waiting, shattering the structure and knocking it down on top of at least one of them.

The women were taken to a hospital, where they were treated for cuts and bruises, witnesses said.

The incident occurred about 5 p.m. on MacArthur Boulevard, near Cathedral Avenue in the Palisades section of upper Northwest Washington.

A mirror on the bus opposite the driver's side struck the metal-framed structure, said Joanne Ferreira, a spokeswoman for Metro. The bus was on the D3 route, headed from Sibley Memorial Hospital to the Ivy City neighborhood, she said.

As the incident was described to her, said Rachel Thompson, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for the area, "It was a very loud crash."

One woman, who may have been about 60 years old, was trapped for a time beneath the shelter's metal roof, Thompson said. She said two men from a plumbing business lifted the roof off the woman.

People picked fragments of shattered glass or plastic from the woman's back, Thompson said.

According to Thompson, a similar incident had happened there once before.