[Houston] Fired METRO bus driver speaks out about wreck (11 vehicle accident)... videos
Posted by
Gold_12TH
on Tue May 15 00:40:20 2012
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Friday, May 04, 2012 Surveillance Video....
Three days after a bus crash in northwest Houston, we have video of the accident. METRO says its investigation is complete and the driver of that bus no longer has a job.
The transit authority says it believes that driver could have taken measures to prevent the accident.
Eyewitness News has an exclusive interview with the bus driver, who shared his side of the story.
It was well before he boiled his crawfish for the day that Johnny Davis rushed out and took pictures of the accident.
"It was pretty wild," Davis said.
METRO has pictures of its own -- video, actually, from six different angles. They show the impact from inside the bus, passengers getting thrown around, and outside a car pushed up onto another.
METRO also says one camera shows the bus driver making a huge mistake, pushing the accelerator instead of the brake.
Egan Harris says they've got it all wrong.
"I said I was pushing the brake. That's the report that I gave, that I was pressing on the brakes, but it wouldn't stop," said Harris.
He is the one who was behind the wheel Tuesday morning. METRO police believe he caused the 11 vehicle accident. Several people were injured, and he's now been fired for it.
"No complaints from anybody for a year," Harris said.
The 69-year-old, who says he was just three months from retiring, showed us one of several commendations he's gotten in his 10 years with METRO.
"If I'm driving and I have people, I'm responsible for their lives. And I did my best to prevent anybody from being injured, but that doesn't mean it always turns out that way," said Harris. "I couldn't control it anymore, so I'm very sorry it happened to anybody."
It's an apology that couldn't save his job.
Harris says he has not been ticketed for the accident or contacted by police. METRO tells us the results of his routine drug and alcohol tests after the accident were negative.
---http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8648986
Blame it on the op?! Hmmmmm, three months from retiring and I supposed a nice driving record for 10 years with Metro. They jumped the gun and fired the guy. He saw- they saw. And how they know he was accelerating? He said he couldn't stop the bus. T.As afraid to get sued and lose millions upon millions of dollars I guess.
I always have these buses stop behind me at the lights, and holey moley! Anyone elses heart skip a beat on that video?
I'm wondering if they jumped to that conclusion because the front video looks like the bus jerks faster from a pump on the gas? Do they have black boxes, or is that just a car thing still?
