A Staten Island bus company hired a driver who did not disclose a troubled past. In 2009, that driver struck and killed a 34-year old mother of two in New York. Last week, a jury awarded the woman’s estate $9.5 million in the lawsuit against the bus company in connection with the bus accident.
Atlantic Express Transportation hired the 54-year old driver who had 31 prior criminal convictions, a suspended driver’s license and spent periods of his life as a homeless person. According to the report, in January 2009 the driver hit the woman as she walked to work. A witness testified that the woman stuck to the tire before she hit the bottom of the bus. She died from her injuries three months later.
The bus company’s safety compliance officer testified that he did not know of the driver’s criminal past. Just two months before the fatal bus accident, police ticketed the driver for driving 73 mph in a 50 mph zone. The victim’s attorney commented that the federal and state governments need tougher regulation of private bus companies. For his part, the driver expressed his remorse and said he did not know that he had a suspended driver’s license.
Have you ever had an unsafe experience on a private bus carrier?
Colson Hicks Eidson – Florida injury attorneys
