Watch: Woman hit by bus downtown Cleveland, bus driver wanted
CLEVELAND (WJW) — Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team shows an RTA bus hitting a woman in a crosswalk. And, we found the bus driver had been wanted by the court for another accident.
The video makes you wonder how a woman survived. We also wondered how the bus driver didn’t see her. And, we’ve wondered why the driver’s bosses didn’t know what we found in court records.
Early one evening last month, an RTA bus barreled into Marsha Ganger. It happened near West 6th Street and Superior Avenue as she walked in a crosswalk.
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“Then I saw the bus coming. It looked like a wall was coming. I didn’t know which way to go. And, then, it hit me,” she told the I-Team. “It’s, like, I saw that bus coming at me, and it just reminded me, like, something out of a movie.”
The crash stunned Ganger, and we surprised her, too, with what we found out about the bus driver.
“I don’t know what to think about it,” she said. “I just wish I wasn’t involved, at all. Yeah, it’s pretty scary.”
By phone, we made contact with bus driver David Burkhalter.
“I didn’t even see her,” he said. “I didn’t even realize I had hit her.”
Burkhalter got fired after this incident.
A police report shows Ganger had the walk sign, and she was in the crosswalk. But, that’s not how the bus driver remembers it.
“She just walked out of nowhere!” he said.
We reminded Burkhalter that we had seen the video, and the woman hit was clearly in the crosswalk.
Burkhalter, then, responded with: “So, she was in the crosswalk? With the white lines? I still didn’t see that lady in that cross walk.”
We also found the bus driver got a ticket for that downtown crash. But, records show he didn’t show up for court.
Then, we also found he got another ticket in 2023 for another crash while driving a bus. And, records show Burkhalter has had a warrant out for his arrest since early last year for not showing up for court for that case, either.”
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“You know what, Ed. I can’t tell you nothing about that one,” he said.
He claims he never got the ticket from last year. And, he said he plans to take care of the one for the recent crash.
But, we’ve asked RTA to explain how the driver’s bosses didn’t know he had a warrant for a ticket tied to driving a bus. In fact, records show RTA Police issued the ticket last year as well as the one this year.
RTA has, yet, to explain how Burkhalter continued to drive without taking care of the 2023 case.
We met Ganger heading out to another dental appointment. She told us she is still recovering from her injuries. Still shaken.
“It’s like my teeth hit metal, and I fell down. Just couldn’t believe it,” she said.
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