Bus Driver Involved in Fatal Kirkland Crash May Face Charges

Just about a year ago, the news was slammed with information regarding a runaway transit bus that struck multiple cars and killed two people.

Fast forward to this month, where new video evidence has surfaced backing up the drivers original story, but doesn’t match the condition of the bus during the time of the crash.

In other words, even though the bus driver was screaming “I got no brakes!” while in the midst of killing innocent people, the followup examination of his bus determined that the dialogue was all a charade. Lt. Shane Nelson, with the Washington State Patrol said “In this particular case we were able to rule out completely the environment and the vehicle,” and later went on to state that all evidence in the investigation points in the direction of pure driver error.

The Washington State Patrol says the bus driver failed to stop for a red light and crashed the bus into an SUV. That collision killed Robert and Elizabeth Rotta and injured their son, Kendall Rotta.

This video shows all four angles on the bus at the time of the collision with the vehicle. (Warning: Video contains audio of the crash)

The victims’ family has filed a lawsuit in the case. First Transit, Inc., the bus transportation carrier contracted by Sound Transit, is named as the defendant in the lawsuit.