A bus driver who killed a pedestrian last week in New York City has been arrested

After a pedestrian died in a New York City bus accident, officials announced that the driver was arrested under the city’s Right of Way Law. The fatal bus accident happened a week ago in Brooklyn, NYC.

62 year old Eleanora Shulkina was crossing East 17th Street near Avenue Z. The woman was in the crosswalk when she was hit by a MTA bus making a left turn on Avenue Z. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She didn’t survive her injuries and died shortly after.

The bus driver, 52 year old Wayne Alman, stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t immediately charged. However yesterday officials announced that they had arrested the bus driver. He is charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian, a misdemeanor under the newly signed Right of Way Law.

The Law that was passed a little more than a year ago initially gave the police the authority to charge drivers  with a misdemeanor if they injured or killed pedestrians and cyclists after failing to yield to them.  The Law was clarified and modified last September after the bus driver’s union tried to have it repealed. The Law now requires that the driver not only failed to yield but also failed to exercise due care to be charged with a misdemeanor.

In the case of the wrongufl death of Eleanora Shulkina,  the driver was not immediately arrested. However, after a week of investigation the police arrested Wayne Alman, the bus driver,  and charged him with failure to yield to a pedestrian. He was arrested yesterday.

Wayne Alman is the second bus driver that has been arrested since the Right of Way Law was modified. The other one was a 48 year old MTA bus driver, Paul Roper. At the beginning of November Roper hit 70 year old Carol Bell after making a left turn on Fulton Street. He briefly stopped after hitting the pedestrian but then continued to drive.  The woman died at the scene of the accident. Roper was charged with a felony for leaving the scene of an accident involving death, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.