Metro fired a former bus driver Thursday, two weeks after the employee pleaded guilty to killing a California businessman when he sped through a red light in his Metrobus more than three years ago. Ronald W. Taylor, 41, of Laurel, was terminated after pleading guilty to negligent homicide in D.C. Superior Court, according to Metro spokesman Dan Stessel. Taylor is awaiting sentencing that could put him in prison for more than three years after pleading guilty to negligent homicide in D.C. Superior Court. He also faces parole violations in two prior drug cases.
Before firing Taylor, Metro officials obtained a copy of the plea agreement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a certified transcript of the hearing, Stessel said. “That documentation was reviewed and a disciplinary interview was conducted with the employee, consistent with provisions of the collective bargaining agreement,” he said.
| Ronald Taylor’s tenure at Metro |
| Hired: March 31, 2008 |
| Terminated 14 days after fatal bus crash: Oct. 10, 2008 |
| Rehired: May 23, 2010 |
| Placed on unpaid leave after arrested: April 21, 2011 |
| Reinstated: May 11, 2011 |
| Placed on unpaid leave the day he pleaded guilty: March 23, 2012 |
| Fired: April 5 |
Taylor could not be reached for comment Thursday.
It’s the latest twist in Taylor’s tenure at the transit agency, which provides an insight into Metro’s hiring and firing processes amid union contracts. Over four years, he was hired, fired, rehired, suspended, reinstated, then suspended and finally fired again for the same issue.
The case began on Sept. 26, 2008, just six months after Taylor started at Metro.
While driving his Metrobus to the Friendship Heights bus garage about 8:15 p.m., he crashed into a minivan taxi at the intersection of Virginia Avenue and 19th Street in Northwest. A family visiting from California was inside the cab.
Bartlett Tabor, 55, was killed. His wife, their two children, ages 9 and 10, and the taxi driver were injured.
The Tabor family sued Metro for $100 million, and the transit agency settled the case in January 2010 in a confidential agreement.
Taylor was fired after the crash because Metro officials said he ran a red light.
But he was rehired in May 2010. He had not been charged with any crimes or citations at the time, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 argued. An arbitration panel did not find enough evidence that he ran the red light. The arbitrators awarded him full back pay and ordered Metro to reinstate him.
He then became a station manager, after Metro refused to let him drive a bus. However, he was arrested at the Cheverly rail station while on the job last April, after a grand jury said it had enough evidence to charge him with negligent homicide in the crash.
Police accident reconstruction teams determined that he ran the light at least 17 seconds after it turned red. Analysis of the black box aboard the bus found he was going 41.5 mph in a 25 mph zone.
Initially after the arrest, Taylor was put on leave without pay, Metro officials said at the time. But he returned to his job 20 days later, homicide charge looming, as the agency said it must assume innocence until a court proved otherwise.
