Lawsuit Filed Against Greyhound Over Fatal Bus Accident Two Years Ago

Greyhound and one of its bus drivers came under fire in a lawsuit this week over a fatal 2017 bus accident that injured 12 and killed one.

A lawsuit was filed earlier this week against Greyhound over a 2017 fatal bus accident that injured 12 passengers and killed another. Now, one of the passengers on the bus that fateful day wants justice and believes Greyhound and the bus driver was responsible for the accident. But what happened? How did the accident happen?

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Michael Edwards in a court in Nevada, Charles E. Saunders, the bus driver the day of the incident, “fell asleep after taking cold medicine and never hit the brakes as the bus flew off a highway and crashed into a canyon wall about 300 miles (483 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.” Prior to the accident, Edwards claims in the suit that Saunders was feeling ill and “should never have been behind the wheel.”

Edwards was one of the passengers on the bus who was injured in the crash. He suffered a “traumatic brain injury and fractures to his face, elbow, ribs, and tibia and has racked up more than $500,000 in medical expenses.” In his suit, he’s hoping to win damages to cover his medical expenses, “as well as other economic losses from his injuries.”

According to Edwards, Saunders tried to get a replacement driver because he wasn’t feeling well before the accident. In fact, Saunders allegedly reached out to Greyhound and “requested a replacement driver for the route from Green River, Utah, to Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve 2017.” However, Greyhound failed to send one. As a result, Saunders took some cold medicine and fell asleep at the wheel. Right before the crash, a passenger woke him up by yelling at him, “Driver, you’re sleeping!”

After that, the bus “flew off Interstate 70 and over a small ravine, hit a canyon wall and spun 180 degrees,” the suit states. During the chaos of the accident, some passengers were able to crawl out of the bus to try and get help. Others weren’t so lucky and were either “pinned in the bus and couldn’t move.” One passenger, Summer Pinzon, 13, died in the crash.

The Utah police investigating the crash at the time said they were “investigating it as a possible negligent homicide case after finding cold medicine at the scene and getting reports that the driver was slumped over the wheel.” However, in the end, Saunders wasn’t charged because there was a lack of evidence indicating he was impaired from “drugs that would make it a criminal case.”

Sources:

Lawsuit: Bus driver was sick, tired before fatal Utah crash

Greyhound bus driver sued in 2017 Utah crash that killed teen girl