(WXYZ) — Detroit police are investigating after a woman was struck and killed by a bus in the city Friday morning.
The victim was reportedly hit by a DDOT bus near Griswold and Congress. According to DPD, the bus was going westbound on Congress and stopped to turn onto southbound Griswold at the time of the accident. The victim was also walking westbound in the crosswalk on Congress. She was reportedly on the way to work in the Buhl Building.
One person was on the bus at the time. It happened near the Guardian Building in Downtown Detroit. Police say there were no eyewitnesses and they will be pulling video from all the surveillance cameras in the area.
People who work in the area say the intersection where the crash happened can be dangerous.
"I have been crossing and almost got hit. It was a tragedy bound to happen," said Sharmon Anderson, who works a few buildings away from the intersection.
Anderson has been working in the area for more than 10 years and says she felt an accident like this was inevitable.
"I was heartbroken, but I knew it was tragedy bound to happen. That corner is a dangerous corner," Anderson said. "You really have to pay attention to that corner where all those people are because if you don’t and you’re making this left, you’ll be on the blind side. You won’t see them until you’re up on them and then it’ll probably be too late."
Sources are telling 7 Action News that the driver, who has worked for the company for 26 years, was involved in another fatal accident in April of 2015. In that incident, a man taking his bike off the front of the bus was hit and killed. The case was settled after a lawsuit was filed for $1.4 million. Following that incident the driver was taken off the job and retrained.
"This was an unfortunate incident down here at this point in time," Deputy Chief Tiffany Stewart said. "Tragic situation. Nobody expected it. Nothing that was intentional, just really hard to have to deal with it and we give our condolences to the family."
SMART released a statement on Friday afternoon, identifying the victim as Janice Bauer. Bauer worked as an ADA Program Coordinator with SMART for 10 years.
The statement said the SMART family is grieving and are shaking by this tragedy.
"She was a kind and sweet person who loved Detroit. She loved its people. And she loved working in the heart of this great city - so much so that she never missed a day of work, even during the pandemic. Her work ethic and commitment to the people we serve every day was unparalleled.
We are committed to being there for Janice’s family and for each other, and we are making grief counseling available to employees who feel they need professional support," the statement read in part.
The City of Detroit has issued the following statement about the incident:
This morning there was a tragic incident involving one of our DDOT coaches. We have lost a member of the community and our deepest sympathies are with the family at this difficult time.
Any time a DDOT coach is involved in a collision, the driver is immediately taken off the road and a full internal investigation is completed. Per FTA regulations, drug and alcohol testing of the driver also is performed.
The accident investigation is being conducted by the Detroit Police Department Fatal Squad and that report will be forwarded to the Wayne County Prosecutor when it is completed.
The city has also begun a full internal review as to whether the city has the proper internal and labor relations processes in place to prevent accidents involving the city’s bus operators. Mayor Duggan has directed Senior Advisor and Counsel Hassan Beydoun to thoroughly review the city’s practices and make recommendations as any steps that should be taken to prevent tragedies in the future.
At this time, we know that the operator is a female employee with 26 years of service with DDOT, and we have no further comment at this time.
