7 On Your Side Investigates: MTA bus driver fired after pedestrian death, victim's family speaks out
JAMAICA, Queens (WABC) -- The MTA tells Eyewitness News it has fired a bus driver who hit and killed a pedestrian in August, and investigative reporter Kristin Thorne sat down exclusively with the victim's family.
"My heart is broken," Roberta Keys said on the loss of her daughter, Amesha Keys.
Keys, 31, was killed by an MTA bus on August 6 in Jamaica. She leaves behind an 8-year-old daughter.
Roberta Keys said her daughter was returning home at 10:30 p.m. from her job as a manager at a Sephora in Manhattan when the accident happened. She said Amesha had just gotten off a bus at the intersection of Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street.
The NYPD said Keys was attempting to cross the street when the bus, while making a left-hand turn, struck her. Police said the MTA driver kept going. It's unknown whether the female driver knew she had hit someone. The NYPD said it's still conducting its investigation.
"It feel like a dream," Shamiel Keys, Amesha Keys' brother, said. "I still can't believe it."
The MTA said they fired the driver. They said she joined NYC Transit in April 2022 and she had passed routine drug and alcohol tests.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the MTA is thinking of Amesha Keys' loved ones.
"A huge hole in New York's heart whenever we have a person lost, especially in a mass transit accident," he said August 16 when asked about the accident.
The New York City Department of Transportation said its reviewing the street design of the intersection, as they do after any traffic fatality. A spokesperson for the agency told Eyewitness News that over the past five years, six pedestrians have suffered minor injuries at the intersection. They said this is the first incident involving a serious injury and fatality.
"One traffic death on our roads is too many and our thoughts are with the victim's loved ones," a spokesperson said.
The family has filed a notice of claim against the city and the MTA for Amesha Keys' death.
"We're investigating whether or not the city's design of that intersection contributed to the accident itself," Nicholas Liakas, the family's attorney, said.
"I just want that to not to happen to anybody else on that corner like that," Roberta Keys said.
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