Las Vegas Bus Company Hires Driver with Known Safety Problems
I am representing a man who was hit by a bus making a left turn in Las Vegas. The man was in the crosswalk and the driver simply did not see him. The man was hospitalized with brain injury. The Bus Company with Las Vegas offices alleged the man was walking against the pedestrian traffic signal. Somehow, the Bus Co. feels, this gave the bus driver the right to run him over. And the police officer cited the man who got hit!.jpg)
The police report listed two witnesses who provided statements in Spanish. Today, I took their depositions. The witnesses were fine Mexican-American individuals, legally in this country, who told us that the bus driver was at fault and that the man had the right of way according to the traffic signal. The police never spoke to the unconscious man, and obviously did not understand or ignored the independent witnesses’ accounts. Instead police took the bus driver’s version of traffic control violation of the pedestrian had and cited the pedestrian.
This is a blatant example of how the wrong picture is frequently painted based on pre-existing prejudice. The two Mexican-American witnesses were simply discounted out of hand. The sad part was that the pedestrian had his citation dismissed partially because the cop never showed up in court, yet the stigma remains. And the bus company may have gotten away with it.
The witnesses not only stated the traffic signal allowed the man to walk into the cross walk, but that the bus was attempting, in their opinion, to flee the scene. Can you imagine: A bus company that hires drivers who would flee the scene after hitting a pedestrian and knocking him to the ground unconscious? The amazing thing is that the bus company’s own camera installed on the bus actually showed the man walk into the crosswalk; The bus make its left turn while the radio is blasting; and then the sound of “thud” when the bus hit the pedestrian.
These are situations when all the tort reform rhetoric falls short. These things really happen and consumers need protection from faceless corporations driven solely by profit and self-preservation.
Very good. I enjoyed very much!