SAN BERNARDINO >> The driver of a Mexican tour bus that crashed in Yucaipa in 2013 and killed eight people pleaded not guilty Thursday tofelony charges.

Norberto Bravo Perez, 55, who was being held at West Valley Detention Center, appeared via a video feed inside a San Bernardino County Superior Court to eight counts of felony vehicular manslaughter in San Bernardino Superior Court.

According to a criminal complaint, Perez was driving “in an unlawful manner, and with gross negligence” on Feb. 3, 2013,

If convicted, he could face a maximum of 15 years in state prison.

The hearing itself was quick, inside an empty courtroom at the Justice Center.

Perez’ words in Spanish were translated by an interpreter and the court commissioner appointed a public defender to his case.

After years of investigating, officials charged Perez on Nov. 3, Chris Lee, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office said.

He was arrested Wednesday morning in San Ysidro.

Perez was driving the bus for Scapadas Magicas (Magical Escapes), a company based out of National City, on Feb. 3, 2013, officials said. A total of 38 tourists, many of them doctors and nurses working at a Tijuana hospital, boarded the bus for a daylong trip to the snowy San Bernardino Mountains.

As the group returned from their trip, investigators determined Perez lost control of the bus, sending it into a Saturn carrying three passengers before veering off the road and toppling onto its side.

As it slid, the bus struck a boulder on the side of the road, knocking the bus upright again moments before it crashed into a Ford pickup traveling north in the oncoming lane.

Forty-three people, including at least two children, were involved in the crash: 38 passengers plus Perez, and four others from the two other vehicles. Six passengers were thrown from the bus.

Perez is being held in lieu of $1 million bail, which the court’s commissioner raised from $800,000, and is scheduled to be back in court Dec. 1.

Nearly three years after eight people were killed in a bus crash on Highway 38 near Yucaipa, authorities arrested a San Ysidro bus driver Wednesday morning citing “gross negligence.”

Norberto Bravo Perez, 55, is facing eight counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, according to San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office officials. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 15 years in state prison.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Superior Court, Perez was driving “in an unlawful manner, and with gross negligence.”

No other details regarding the case were released Wednesday.

Perez is scheduled to be arraigned today in San Bernardino Superior Court, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff’s booking information.

“Thanks to the thorough investigative work of the California Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board, we were able to finally determine what occurred that horrible night when a bus full of people lost control and crashed on a mountain road,” District Attorney Mike Ramos said in a statement.

“We intend to seek justice on behalf of the victims and their families,” he continued.

After years of investigating, officials decided to charge Perez on Nov. 3, said Chris Lee, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office.

Perez was driving the bus for Scapadas Magicas (Magical Escapes), a company based out of National City, on Feb. 3, 2013, officials said. A total of 38 tourists, many of them doctors and nurses working at a Tijuana hospital, boarded the bus for a daylong trip to the snowy San Bernardino Mountains.

As the group returned from their trip, investigators determined Perez lost control of the bus, sending it into a Saturn carrying three passengers before veering off the road and toppling onto its side.

As it slid, the bus struck a boulder on the side of the road, knocking the bus upright again moments before it crashed into a Ford pickup traveling north in the oncoming lane.

Forty-three people, including at least two children, were involved in the crash: 38 passengers plus Perez, and four others from the two other vehicles. Six passengers were thrown from the bus.

The bus ended up on its side across the highway. Officers and first responders were placing injured patients on the downward side of the road. On the back side of the bus were horribly injured people and mutilated bodies. Passengers drenched with blood, with bones obviously broken, lay next to passengers who didn’t look like they had just escaped from a fatal bus crash.

Three generations of a family were wiped out that night when Guadalupe Olivas, 61; her daughter, Elvira Garcia Jimenez, 40; and Olivas’ grandson, 13-year-old Victor Cabrera Garcia, were killed.

Jimenez worked as a doctor at Clínica de Las Palmas in Baja California. A woman who answered the phone at the clinic Wednesday said she remembered the tragic crash but could not comment on the arrest.

The crash also killed Fred Richardson, a 72-year-old landscaper beloved in the Mountain Home Village community.

Records indicate Scapadas Magicas failed 36 percent of its safety inspections in the two years prior to the crash, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Only 16 of its 25 vehicles had passed inspection, a 64 percent failure rate three times the national average.

Violations noted in inspections between February 2011 and October 2012 included insufficient brake linings, leaky brake connections, missing wheel fasteners, oil leaks, low tire treads, and inoperable headlights, taillights and turn signals. Scapadas Magicas had also been cited for allowing a driver to operate a commercial vehicle on a suspended driver’s license and failing to give a driver a drug test before extending an offer of employment.

Five days after the crash, the federal government called Scapadas Magicas an immediate hazard to public safety and ordered the company shut down.

Investigators would not say Wednesday if they would be seeking criminal charges against the bus company or its owners.

POMONA — Authorities today released the name of a motorist who was killed in a solo crash in Pomona over the weekend.

Angel Arrieta, 31, of Pomona died at the scene of the crash, which occurred about 8:45 a.m. Sunday on South Reservoir Street near East Phillips Boulevard, said coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter.

Pomona police Cpl. J.T. Garcia said Arrieta was the only person in his vehicle, which struck a parked car, a wall and then a fire hydrant.

Reservoir Street was closed in the area for several hours while an investigation was conducted. Police urged anyone who saw the crash to call the Traffic Services Bureau at (909) 620-2081.

POMONA >> A 33-year-old woman died in a two-vehicle crash early Tuesday morning on the westbound lanes of the 10 Freeway at Dudley Street, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash occurred just after 4:30 a.m. and blocked the carpool and fast lanes for a short time, according to the CHP incident report log. Reports indicate the impact caused the vehicles to land facing the wrong way.

A woman was pronounced dead just before 5 a.m., CHP Officer Francisco Villalobos told City News Service.

Although crews managed to reopen all lanes of traffic within about 30 minutes, backup from the crash was being reported along the westbound freeway to Euclid Avenue in Ontario just after 5:15 a.m.

— Beatriz Valenzuela

POMONA >> Police are investigating the fatal hit-and-run death of a man late Sunday night.

Officers were called to the area of Holt and Garey avenues after a vehicle struck a person and drove off, according to a police statement.

• MAP: Scene of the fatal hit-and-run in Pomona

Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. His name was not being released, as of Monday morning.

Police are looking for the vehicle and driver. Investigators say the vehicle would have significant damage to the windshield area.

Anyone with information about this collision is encouraged to call the Pomona Police Department’s Traffic Services Bureau at 909-620-2081.

POMONA >> Not even Mother Nature could delay Southern California’s Del Worsham from entry into the NHRA record book Sunday at the Auto Club Finals in the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season-finale.

Worsham, a Villa Park resident who also resided in Chino Hills, became the third driver in the 64-year history of the sanctioning body to win a pro class title in two classes. In 2011, Worsham won the Top Fuel title and this year, his second season competing for legend Connie Kalitta, added the the Funny Car title.

The 45-year-old joined an elite class with two titles in those two classes, Don Prudhomme and Kenny Bernstein

He wrapped up the title in the semifinals when he outraced Norco’s Jack Beckman, who maintained the pressure with a pair of record runs. The 45-year-old Worsham covered the 1,000-foot strip at Fairplex in 3.928 seconds at 327.35 to advance into the finals and win the title. His championship run against Tommy Johnson Jr. was just icing on the cake.

To claim his 38th career victory, 30th in a Funny Car, Worsham had to beat some of the best in the class. He scored wins over one-time champion Tony Pedregon, Robert Hight and before eliminating Beckman.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Worsham. Twenty-five years ago, he made his drag racing debut at the same track, driving a car owned by his father Chuck and losing to Ed McCullouch in the first round. On Sunday, he defeated the two drivers closest in points – Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr, – in consecutive rounds, with a 3.900 second pass at 328.14 mph in the finals against Johnson as icing on the championship cake.

Worsham said his team found something during testing prior to the Labor Day U.S. Nationals. While it didn’t payoff at the most prestigious race of the season, the Kalitta Motorsports crew fixed in in time for the Countdown and Worsham responded by winning three of the first four playoff races and at Pomona.

It was a tough loss for Beckman, who did manage to score extra points by twice setting the elapsed time record. He finished 56 points behind Worsham, despite winning seven national events to Worsham’s four.

“We said whoever would win it earned it. Nobody is holding their head,” said Beckman. “We did amazing things on the race track and amazing things for our injured vets with Infinite Hero. We’ve had, by all standards. a career year for the entire team. “The points just didn’t come out in our favor with the Countdown and the points being reset.” Worsham was joined in the championship throne room by Andrew Hines, who packed away his fifth Pro Stock Motorcycle in the second round when Jerry Savoie, his closest competitor and top qualifier, was taken out by Sunday’s eventual event winner Eddie Krawiec. With the win over Matt Smith in the finals, Krawiec, whose crew chief is Andrew Hines’ brother Matt, moved into second place in the standings.

“It was a long struggle with the issues we had in the middle of the season,” said Hines. “It was a total team effort by Vance & Hines, they all put in a long of hours. This was extremely stressful.

“It was a totally relief to go the distance. But when you have a teammate that’s a bad ass, put a lot of pressure on a lot of people.”

Funny Car and PSM were the only pro classes without a champ heading into Pomona. Antron Brown claimed the Top Fuel dragster title two weeks earlier in Las Vegas and continued his success by reaching the finals against Shawn Langdon, who won the season-opening Winternationals on the same track for Alan Johnson Racing.

However, Langdon secured the trophy for Don Schumacher Racing by coming from behind and win against his DSR teammate. Langdon, who started drag racing as a youngster in nearby Mira Loma, covered the 1,000 foot distance in 3.715 at 332.43 to beat Brown’s 3.732 after Brown had gained a 0.012 second advantage off the starting line.

In Pro Stock, Allen Johnson won the final race that featured a carburetor in the class. Johnson covered the quarter-mile distance in 6.541 at 210.18 to defeat a fast-closing Vincent Nobile, representing Mountain View Tire out of Upland, ran a fast-closing 6.540 at 6.540 but managed to move up and finish sixth in the final standings.

NHRA announced earlier in the season the 2016 will be the first with electronic fuel injectors in the class.

Two-time class champion Erica Enders-Stevens was taken out in the semifinals, and she wasn’t happy with herself.

“I didn’t drive like I wanted to this afternoon, but our season was great,” she said. “The competitor in me is really mad that I screwed up. I am human and it’s the first time I’ve done so probably since the spring.

“I guess we’re all entitled, but at the same time I’m better than that.”

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> Archie Green III, the man suspected of driving drunk and causing a Nov. 5 traffic collision that killed San Bernardino police Officer Bryce Hanes, pleaded not guilty to felony charges Tuesday morning.

• Photos: Arraignment of Archie Green III, in suspected DUI crash that killed San Bernardino police Officer Bryce Hanes

Green, 27, of Fontana appeared for a video arraignment in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga to face charges of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol. He is scheduled back in court Dec. 2.

Deputy District Attorney Jason Liso said Green’s blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Hanes’ family was not in the courtroom for the arraignment.

• Video: Defense Attorney Ludlow Creary III says Archie Green III should be released on his own recognizance

Green’s attorney, Ludlow Creary III, said his client is “devastated” by Hanes’ death. Creary also said Hanes was not wearing a seat belt the night of the fatal crash.

Creary said his client is a “father and family man.” He is an honor student with no criminal record, who was raised in Buena Park and has ties to the community, he said.

The defense attorney requested a bail reduction or his client’s release on his own recognizance, but the judge denied the request and kept Green’s bail at $250,000.

“The judge is supposed to consider the safety of his community when considering bail,” said Liso during a news conference following the proceedings. “Also, legally speaking, in order to lower bail in a case like this, the judge has to find unusual circumstances, and the fact that he’s young and lacks a record isn’t an unusual circumstance such to let him out of custody in a case like this.”

Green’s family was present in court, but they did not comment.

Ontario police, who arrested Green, deferred a request for comment on whether Hanes was wearing a seat belt to the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.

“Our office has released all the information related to this case at this point,” said DA spokesman Christopher Lee.

“This is an ongoing case. No further details will be released at this point.”

• Video: San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Jason Liso talks about the death of Officer Bryce Hanes

Hanes, a 40-year-old Redlands resident, had just dropped off an inmate at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, when police said Hanes’ vehicle was broadsided by a dark blue 2008 Dodge Charger driven by Green just after 2 a.m. Nov. 5 at Etiwanda Avenue and Fourth Street in Ontario.

The impact left the patrol car pressed into a traffic light pole.

A witness told investigators that the Charger’s driver ran a red light and collided with Hanes’ vehicle. The police officer had a green light, according to the witness.

Hanes, a 12-year member of the San Bernardino Police Department, is remembered as a family man devoted to his department and community.

Staff Writer Doug Saunders contributed to this report.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> No one was hurt when a vehicle collided with a school bus carrying 28 students this afternoon near Los Osos High.

The minor crash occurred around 3:20 p.m. when the packed bus was struck by a brown Toyota vehicle as it traveled northbound on Milliken Ave. approaching the curve at Wilson Avenue.

Sixteen students were transferred to a different school bus, and 13 students were released to their parents.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, officials said.

“Although it seldom occurs, it is nevertheless unnerving to learn that a district bus is involved in an accident,” said Mat Holton, superintendent of Chaffey Joint Union High School District. “However, I’m sincerely thankful there were no injuries.”

The motorist who slammed into a San Bernardino police patrol car, killing Officer Bryce Hanes early this morning near Rancho Cucamonga, may have run a red-light.

A witness told investigating officers that the motorist ran a red light and crashed into Hanes’ vehicle. Hanes had a green light, according to the witness.

Police officials say Hanes’ vehicle was broadsided by the other motorist. At the scene, the patrol car was pressed into a traffic light pole.

The traffic collision at Fourth Street and Etiwanda Avenue, may be DUI-related, police said.

Initial reports indicate Hanes had just dropped off an inmate at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga when the crash happened.

The crash is under investigation by Ontario police.