Lawsuit Filed in Deadly Megabus Accident

Attorneys have requested surveillance video, driver's personnel file

The past week has not been kind to Megabus.

Days after settling a lawsuit involving a pedestrian struck by a bus in a crosswalk, the company now faces a new similar lawsuit.

Attorneys representing the family of Donna Halstead filed the wrongful death suit Friday. Halstead died of injuries she suffered after a Megabus coach struck her as she crossed a street Tuesday.

The suit is also requesting the bus be kept in an unaltered state for further inspection. Lawyers also want to see the driver's personnel records. The plaintiffs are additionally requesting surveillance video that may have caught the crash, including footage from a nearby CVS.

Attorneys also want to get a better look at how Megabus trains its drives to handle blind spots.

"There is a remarkable similarity between what happened this past Tuesday involving Ms. Halstead and a case that we just settled a couple of days ago involving Wesley Krueger," said attorney Dan Kotin, joined by Halstead's children.

Krueger died following a 2010 accident in which he too was walking in a crosswalk. A Megabus coach struck him and dragged him about 30 feet.

The previous case did not examine blind spots, but this week's incident may indicate an area of concern regarding large buses and blind spots.

"It just raises questions about the training of the bus drivers," he said.

Kotin also wants to examine the safety of having the vehicles operate in the areas where the accidents occurred.

"One question has to do with the fact that you've got a very large motor coach in Megabus, and these motor coaches are operating on busy city streets," he said.

One week ago Friday, a Megabus coach crashed into a concrete overpass support in southern Illinois, killing one. Another Megabus coach caught fire Wednesday. Both of those incidents have been initially blamed on blown tires.

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