Bailee Lynn Rios missed her first court appearance Thursday.
The 36-year-old Simi Valley woman, who police say slammed her SUV into a Los Angeles Metro bus in a crash that killed two passengers, remained hospitalized and could not be transported to LA County Superior Court for her scheduled hearing. She is being held on $4.03 million bail.
Rios faces murder charges stemming from the Tuesday collision, which embedded her vehicle into the side of the bus at high speed. Two bus passengers died in the wreck. Rios herself was seriously injured, along with several other passengers aboard the transit vehicle.
The crash triggered a chain of deadly consequences. An NBC helicopter covering the aftermath of the bus collision later went down nearby, killing three people aboard the news aircraft. The twin tragedies have drawn national attention to the intersection of violent traffic incidents and the risks inherent in emergency news coverage.
Rios had been expected to make her initial appearance before a judge Thursday morning. Her hospitalization prevented that proceeding from moving forward. Prosecutors have not yet indicated when a rescheduled date might occur.
The bus crash itself unfolded Tuesday when Rios allegedly drove her SUV at high speed into the Metro bus. The force of the impact lodged her vehicle into the bus structure. Emergency responders extracted victims from the mangled wreckage as the scene drew media coverage that would soon include the NBC aircraft.
The helicopter crash added a second layer of fatalities to an already devastating incident. Three people died when the news helicopter went down while covering the bus collision’s aftermath. The aircraft’s crew had been documenting the emergency response at the ground crash site.
Rios, who is from Simi Valley in Ventura County, has not yet entered a plea to the murder charges. Her medical condition has become the determining factor in when she will first appear before the court. The $4.03 million bail figure set by authorities reflects the severity of the allegations and the death toll from the crash.
The case now sits in procedural limbo as Rios receives treatment. Her injuries, sustained in the same collision that killed two bus passengers, have delayed the formal start of court proceedings. Other injured passengers from the bus continue their own recoveries.
Law enforcement has not released additional details about what may have caused Rios to strike the bus with such force. Toxicology results and accident reconstruction findings typically factor into murder charge filings in fatal traffic cases, though no such information has been made public.
The dual tragedies have left multiple families grieving across Southern California. The two bus passengers killed in the initial crash have not been publicly identified. The three NBC helicopter victims likewise await formal identification in separate investigations.
Rios will need to be medically cleared before she can be transported from her hospital bed to the downtown Los Angeles courthouse for her arraignment.