The Metrobus driver who hit a jogger earlier this month has been fired by the transit agency for failing to prevent the crash.
Carla Proctor was driving an empty bus along Florida Avenue in Northwest Washington just after 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 3 when she struck a jogger crossing the intersection at Connecticut Avenue.
The jogger, Amanda Mahnke, the communications director for Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., was critically injured.
Proctor initially was placed on paid administrative leave after the crash, as is standard following all accidents. She tested negative for drugs and alcohol, Metro said.
But on Monday, the agency fired her as it ended its investigation into the wreck.
She failed to “do everything in her power to avoid that accident,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said Thursday.
Metro would not comment on any specifics of what she may have done wrong. The District’s Metropolitan Police Department also declined to discuss details, said spokeswoman Officer Helen Andrews, as it is still investigating the case.
Proctor could not be reached for comment.
Proctor could not be reached for comment.
But Jackie Jeter, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 that represents drivers, said Proctor has filed a grievance against the termination, as allowed under the operators contract.
Proctor, who started driving a Metrobus in 2000, was the latest bus driver to be fired from the agency after a high-profile incident while operating buses.
Earlier this year, a driver was fired for slugging a cop dressed as McGruff the Crime Dog. Another was canned after he was charged with kidnapping a passenger, and a third lost her job after she was charged with driving without a valid license following a bus crash.
At least three Metro employees were disciplined for reading, using cell phones or even sleeping while operating Metro trains or buses.
