DETROIT (WXYZ) — A DDOT Driver will spend at least six months in jail and two years on probation after killing a pedestrian with her bus, the Office of the Wayne County Prosecutor announced today.
This stems from an crash that happened on June 2 of last year, as around 7:30 a.m. authorities say Geraldine Johnson, a 61-year-old Harper Woods woman, was driving a bus at the intersection of Griswold Street and West Congress Street. When attempting to make a left turn, she hit Janice Bauer, a 67-year-old from Grosse Pointe Park, who was attempting to cross the street on a green light. Bauer was pronounced dead at the scene, andJohnson was fired shortly after the crash.
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This isn't Johnson's first time killing someone while driving a DDOT bus, with 7 Investigator Ross Jones finding that she stayed on the payroll in 2017 after killing a passenger two years prior.
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Johnson was charged back in June of last year, and pled no contest to Moving Violation Causing Death a few months after that. She was sentenced today with two years of probation and one year of jail time, with the first six months being served in Wayne County Jail. She will spend the last six months of her sentence in jail if she violates her probation.
“This case is tragic on every level," said prosecutor Kym Worthy. "Janice Bauer lost her life. The alleged facts are that defendant, Geraldine Johnson, literally ran her over with the city bus she was driving and caused her death."
