Liquid party bus to undergo inspection

A Lawrence night club’s party bus, which rolled out of a gas station parking lot Saturday night and collided with two vehicles, will undergo a mechanical inspection, Lawrence Police said Monday.

Police say they hope the inspection will help determine what caused the empty bus to roll onto 23rd Street while the driver was inside Zarco Phillips 66, 1503 E. 23rd St., paying for gas.

The bus, used by the club Liquid, 806 W. 24th St., did not have passengers aboard. The driver, Chris Nyberg, told police he put the bus’s gearshift in neutral and set the emergency brake before getting off to get gas around 9 p.m. Saturday, according to a police report.

Six people in the two vehicles involved in the collision with the bus were taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. One of the vehicles became lodged under the bus and a passenger, Virginia Ballard, 34, Eudora, had to be extricated by emergency crews, police said.

All of the victims were treated and released, a hospital nursing supervisor said.

Nyberg told police he had not experienced any previous problems with the bus’s braking system, the report said.

Police had the bus, identified in the report as a red 1987 GMC Bluebird, towed to the city maintenance garage for the inspection.

No one at Liquid was available for comment Monday.