Bus Driver's Attorney: Faulty Equipment Caused Parkway North Rollover Crash
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It was back on Sept. 22 when a bus tumbled out of control off the Parkway North and down onto Evergreen Road.
The bus wasn't carrying passengers, and somehow the bus driver, Juliann Maier, survived.
"All she said to me is, 'I just held on for dear life,'" said Ron Maier, Juliann's husband. "I couldn't believe she walked away from it. She had a guardian angel."
Immediately after the crash, the Port Authority blamed it on horseplay by two drivers. The Allegheny County District Attorney says criminal charges are coming.
But Juliann's husband claims its all ridiculous.
"She loves her job. She would do nothing to put it in jeopardy," he said. "She would not do no horseplay whatsoever."
So, what the caused the accident?
Attorney Joel Sansone says he believes some pictures provide the answer.
"There is a covert effort on the part of the Port Authority to fix these buses when nobody's looking with the exact problem that my client says occurred," said Sansone, Juliann's attorney.
Sansone claims the pictures show eight other buses, the same model as the one that crashed. He says the Port Authority is quickly replacing faulty links on the buses' sway bars. The same sway bar he says that caused the accident.
"This suggests to me that the Port Authority knew full well that that bus was in bad condition, and that's why they are repairing all the rest of them, so no one gets killed," said Sansone.
In response Friday night, the Port Authority would only say, "The facts as to what caused, and did not cause, this accident will be released publicly in due time."
Meanwhile, Sansone says he plans to file suit against the Port Authority for ruining Maier's reputation.
"Thank God she wasn't killed; although, her life will never be the same again," said Maier's husband. "Physically she's been battered, emotionally she's been destroyed by the allegations that she did something wrong."
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