[0] MTA BUS HITS PEDESTRIANS; GIRL DIES.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

An MTA bus hit and killed a young girl and seriously injured another child and a woman Tuesday, officials said.

The accident occurred at approximately 4:40 p.m. Tuesday as the three crossed Parthenia Street near Tobias Avenue, transit and emergency officials said.

The identities of the victims were not available.

Bus driver Richard Tolan, 45, of Van Nuys was taken to nearby MTA offices to undergo a drug test, standard procedure after an accident, said Steve Chesser, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The northbound bus had made a scheduled stop on Tobias Avenue, then turned right onto Parthenia when it hit the victims, officials said.

"The driver did not see them. He felt a bump as he hit them, and he stopped, and that's when he saw what happened," Chesser said. "He had just pulled away from a stop and was making a right turn, so the bus wasn't (traveling) at a high rate of speed at all."

The young girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Paramedics flew the woman and boy by helicopter to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.

Later Tuesday, the child was in fair condition and undergoing evaluation and the woman was undergoing surgery and in critical condition, said hospital nursing supervisor Kathy Mitchell.

Rescuers and witnesses described Tolan as "visibly distraught," Humphrey said.

Tolan has worked for the MTA since April 1990, Chesser said.

Four passengers were aboard the Line 420 bus. It was towed to an MTA maintenance yard for a "thorough examination" to determine whether it had mechanical problems, Chesser said.