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city of detroit has agreed to pay $5.85 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of a pedestrian struck by a city bus, the second fatality involving the same driver since 2015.
wayne county Court records show Judge Kathleen McCarthy signed off on the deal last week.
Janice Bauer, 67, was hit by a city bus while walking in a downtown Detroit crosswalk in June 2023.
The driver, Geraldine Johnson, was sentenced to six months in prison a year ago after pleading no contest to the violation causing death, a misdemeanor.
Attorneys for Bauer’s estate said in a court filing that Johnson had been involved in 19 other crashes and that he was known among first responders as a high-risk driving risk. In 2015, a man was hit and killed while trying to move his bike out in front of a bus.
The union representing drivers suggested that Johnson did not want to resume driving after the first death, but that she had no choice if she wanted a job in the city.
Johnson has not spoken publicly about Bauer’s death. “He just didn’t see her,” said Sharon Clark Woodside, his attorney in the criminal case.