PORT ANGELES — Jimie Richmond wants to get back to work and get on with his life.

The Clallam Transit bus driver has spent 7 ½ months coping with the physical and emotional scars of a Sept. 15 wreck that could have killed him and his passengers had he not taken quick action — in which he bore the brunt — on U.S. Highway 101 west of Port Angeles.

The State Patrol said Richmond saved lives on that sunny afternoon he would rather forget.

The 62-year-old Port Angeles man wants to thank the scores of well-wishers who have sent cards and letters.

“I don’t even know who to thank exactly,” he said. “There’s just so many. . . . These people didn’t know me from Adam and I got letters, cakes and phone calls.”

Many of the letters, which he keeps in a photo album, came from parents of passengers on the bus Richmond was driving.

“They said I saved their kid,” Richmond said.

And, in two or three weeks, he wants to get back behind the wheel of the Route No. 14 bus that runs between Port Angeles and Forks.

“I’m not ready to quit driving,” Richmond said.

In harm’s way

With a dozen passengers on board, Richmond was driving in the eastbound acceleration lane near Laird’s Corner when a 1999 F-250 truck hauling a 1976 Lance 700 camper driven by Brandon K. Foth of Wildomar, Calif., crossed the center line.

The bus was flanked to the right by a 1995 Geo Metro driven by Michael Middleton of Forks when Foth’s rig crossed the center line at 65 mph.

Richmond veered the bus slightly to its right — nudging the Geo into the westbound ditch — to avoid a direct hit with the truck and camper.

In doing so, he put himself in harm’s way.

The truck hit the bus a glancing blow that injured Richmond more than any of his passengers.

No one was killed in the high-speed collision.

“The State Patrol said if I would have swerved any more I would have killed him [Middleton], plus the camper and truck would have hit the bus sideways,” Richmond said.

“It would have tipped the bus over. There would have been fatalities. If I would have stayed completely straight, it would have been head-on and there would have been fatalities.”

Severe injuries

Richmond doesn’t like to talk about it. His broke his leg and his foot, lost four teeth and suffered nerve damage in his hands that would require four surgeries.

Blood filled his right eye. He had countless cuts and scrapes from glass and sheet metal from the camper.

“I was so messed up, people that I know didn’t recognize me,” Richmond said.

“I didn’t recognize you at first,” confirmed Susan Richmond, Jimie’s wife.

Foth was taken to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center. He survived critical injuries and now faces a vehicular assault and a hit and run charge in Clallam County Superior Court.

Middleton was not injured. Three of Richmond’s bus passengers were treated for minor injuries at Olympic Medical Center.

About two weeks ago, Richmond’s memories of the wreck were roused. He initially only remembered waking up in a hospital.

Just recently remembered

“I remember everything now, and that kind of really freaked me out,” Richmond said.

He talks about the wreck as part of a therapy to put it behind him. More importantly, he wants to thank all the people who have offered their support.

Asked what that outpouring of support has meant to him, Richmond said: “It kept me alive.”

His wife agreed.

“People cared,” she said. “I didn’t realize how many people did care.”

After recovering from his extensive injuries, the 10th year Clallam Transit driver turned his attention to getting back to work.

An earlier attempt was short-lived because his hand wasn’t strong enough to grip the wheel. He has since had another surgery on that hand.

“My hands are probably as good as they’re ever going to be because there was a lot of nerve damage and stuff, but the doctors are really working on it,” he said.

Clallam Transit General Manager Terry Weed said Richmond will be welcomed back to work if he is cleared by the doctors.

“I’m doing something I really enjoy doing,” said Richmond, who moved back to his hometown after 26 years working at a paper mill in Astoria, Ore.

“I like people. I get along with people.”

Co-workers have helped

Co-workers have donated leave time to help Richmond pay his mounting medical bills. He said Clallam Transit has been supportive throughout the ordeal.

“They treat you like family up there, which is not like any mill I’ve every been at,” Richmond said.

Meanwhile, Richmond says he harbors no anger towards Foth, the man who caused the wreck.

“I don’t know his circumstances,” Richmond said.

“Stuff happens. If it would have been another car, he would have killed a bunch of people.”

State Patrol investigators said Foth sideswiped a Jeep Cherokee six minutes prior to hitting the bus.

Witnesses said Foth, 30, crossed the center line several times before his truck collided with the bus.

After the wreck, Foth was arrested on investigation of vehicular assault and driving under the influence. A month later, a blood analysis showed Foth’s blood alcohol level was .20 more than twice the legal limit.

Foth was still in the hospital when he was summoned to appear in Clallam County Superior Court on Dec. 3. His medical condition prevented him from traveling to his arraignment on March 26.

He is scheduled to enter a plea in Clallam County Superior Court on Friday at 9 a.m.

Vehicular assault is a Class B felony punishable by 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.