Muni Video of Bus-Truck Crash Offers 'Plague O' Both Your Houses' Moment

Muni today released video -- from no fewer than seven different angles -- of the Jan. 5, early morning accident between the 19 Polk bus and a pickup truck.

The takeaway: Muni screwed up. But the driver of the white pickup truck screwed up worse. Way worse. The camera angles pictured above don't show you much -- though one can discern that, since Muni drivers rarely opt to spontaneously steer their buses into hillside shrubberies, some manner of accident has taken place.

Yet video from "Camera One" of the bus' surveillance system seems to indicate that the Muni driver pulls a "Hollywood stop" and rolls through an intersection, while the driver of the white pickup truck blasts through the stop sign without even bothering to slow down.

The video file Muni sent us containing the footage recorded on Cameras Nos. one through five was so massive, we were physically unable to upload it to this site. Sorry. But we do have these horrifying still photos to show you:

First, however, the legal questions. Has Muni violated the law? You bet. Spokesman Judson True noted that the bus driver's actions are "a violation of the California Vehicle Code." And since they led to an accident, how does that open up Muni to legal liability? And what will happen to this driver? True couldn't answer those questions.

Meanwhile, Officer Samson Chan of the San Francisco Police Department said the video of the pickup truck driver slamming into the bus was "definitely evidence" and could be used in the ongoing case against the man. Once again, it's an opportunity to trot out one of Shakespeare's most tried and true quotes when it comes to spreading blame around.

And now: pictures.

Incoming...

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Almost there...

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Impact!

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Update: 2:20 p.m. Chan confirmed that a copy of the crash video has been "booked into evidence" in a "developing" case against the driver of the pickup truck.