A tour bus full of people on their way to a taping of the "Dr. Phil" TV show crashed into a tree at a Hollywood church Wednesday, authorities said. Seventeen people suffered mostly minor injuries.
The chartered bus with 41 people on board was getting off a freeway around 10:15 a.m. when its brakes malfunctioned, police Lt. Roger Mora said.
The bus hit a parked car, crashed through a fence and hit a tree in the yard of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood.
"The bus sheared one tall tree, knocking it completely over, and came to rest at a second tree" that kept it from hitting a building, Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said.
The driver was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, while other victims were treated for minor to moderate injuries that included mostly "bumps, scrapes, bruises," Humphrey said.
The driver told authorities she was unable to stop the bus, possibly because of a "loss of brakes," Humphrey said.
When a second bus arrived to take the riders back to Ventura County, passengers refused to board it, Humphrey said. Instead, friends and relatives were expected to take the riders home.
Humphrey did not know the name of the bus company.
The passengers never got to see Dr. Phil McGraw's self-help TV show. A message left for a show spokesman was not immediately returned.