Middletonian injured in crash with DC bus

By Ethelyn Mosher

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

It was an anxious time for Catherine Tolbart of Middleton last week when she received word her daughter Gwen Tolbart had been injured in a car crash that occurred on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington D.C

Gwen, a WTTG Fox 5 Washington D.C. weather anchor and reporter, was returning home from a formal dinner around 11 p.m. when a Metrobus struck her Honda Accord.

The TV weather reporter was traveling North and the Metrobus was coming from the south when the bus driver made a turn directly across the highway and crashed into Gwen's car, then went through a Jersey barrier, across the sidewalk, through a fence and stopped just before the Mission of Taiwan building on Ness Street.

Gwen said she did not see the bus until it crashed into her car.

"My door was jammed and I could not get out and smoke was coming from the car, both airbags deployed and I panicked," she said in a telephone interview.

"I began kicking out the passenger window when a man came along and broke out the window and was able to get the door open and pulled me out. "

Gwen was taken to Georgetown University Medical Center with minor injuries and was later released. The driver of the bus was also taken to the Georgetown Center.

Metro spokeswoman confirmed that the driver has been charged with failing to maintain control of a vehicle to avoid a collision. He was given an alcohol test but results of this were not available at this time.

Gwen said the accident is being investigated by the Washington D.C. police and the Metro Transit Police.

At the present time she is under doctor's care and will not be permitted to return to her position of Fox 5 TV Weather Anchor for sometime.

She is resting at home.

"I am in very good hands," she said "My friends and business associates are taking care of me, bringing in meals and driving me to my physiotherapy treatments and to my doctor appointments."

Her mother , who is worried about her daughter said she will be to going to Washington soon.

"I will stay as long as she needs me "