Pedestrian Fatally Hit by NYC Transit Bus

Photograph of a crowd at Madison and Jackson Streets, as the police investigate the incident, from reader parker c

An M22 bus traveling on Madison Street apparently fatally struck a pedestrian. The woman, identified as Lourdes Fernandez, had gone to the grocery and may have lost her balance near Jackson Street. The bus driver apparently didn't even realize he/she hit someone while making the left turn onto Jackson.

Witnesses told the police that the "bus kept going"--some saw the bus stop to pick up passenger down the street. WNBC reports "Officials caught up to the M22 bus and its driver within two hours of incident on the West Side" (the M22 essentially travels between from the Lower East Side, through Chinatown and the City Hall-area to Tribeca). The driver, who reportedly has a clean driving record, was not charged.

The Daily News reports that Fernandez had recently suffered burns and lost part of her arm when her stove exploded.

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By Jen Chung in News on July 3, 2008 9:01 AM

Comments [rss]

Spirit of 76

Some people just can't catch a break. First her stove explodes and causes terrible, painful injuries. Then she gets killed by a bus. And then the indignity of being maligned after her death by snarky trolls like "csk" on Gothamist.

Gwinny

JacqueMehoff: oh, it's already well on its way. I've lived in that area for nearly 5 years... and am gratefully moving out as I have bought a place much further uptown.

And I agree that the city buses are generally very poorly driven. The drivers don't give a crap about what's going on around them. I've had numerous close calls (and there have definitely been other reports on Gothamist about people getting hit by buses).

JMH

You only have to see 1 MTA bus to realize they are driven by psychos. I see pedestrians threatened by these bastards almost every day. They run red lights, barrel around corners into people crossing the street. I was nearly hit by two. After that I stay well away from them.

How can you hit a person and not realize until they come to tell you 2 hours later? It doesn't matter if the woman was lying half-dead in the middle of the street, drivers are supposed to look where they are going and keep clear of people.
And yet this is the first time I can remember hearing about a pedestrian being hit by an MTA bus, whereas you see stories about regular cars and vans and trucks hitting people all the time. If MTA drivers are psychos, what does that make everyone else?

BootyInMyEye

google map image of the intersection where the accident occurred is incorrect.

JacqueMehoff

nope, that's why I'm grateful Pb is still cheap and available to the lazy or the productive citizen.

interlard

You only have to see 1 MTA bus to realize they are driven by psychos. I see pedestrians threatened by these bastards almost every day. They run red lights, barrel around corners into people crossing the street. I was nearly hit by two. After that I stay well away from them.

How can you hit a person and not realize until they come to tell you 2 hours later? It doesn't matter if the woman was lying half-dead in the middle of the street, drivers are supposed to look where they are going and keep clear of people.