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Posted: Friday, 22 January 2010 7:39AM
Video shows man being run over by bus
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CHICAGO (CBS) ―He died trying to board a bus. CTA cameras captured Michael Payne's final moments, and he ended up under the bus instead of on it.
CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman learned Payne's mother blames the driver. Verna Payne has retained an attorney and she's filed suit because of what happened to her son.
The Number 14 at 95th and Jeffery: It's a bus the disabled Michael Payne took all the time. But on Sept. 17, tragedy trumped routine. Attorney Marc Taxman reviewed the tape with CBS 2.
You see the bus come to a stop in front of it. A man boards. Payne is there – his reflection is visible in the shelter glass.
He walks with his cane into camera view. The bus begins to move, even as Payne approaches. He stumbles and falls. The bus rolls over him, stops briefly, then keeps going. A witness has to wave to get the driver to stop. But it's too late for Payne, whose mother learned of his death early the following morning.
"It just hurts," Verna Payne said. "It's hard, it's really hard."
She filed suit. She wants answers from the bus driver.
"I would want to know why, when he saw Michael standing there, attempting to get on the bus, he would deliberatrely close the door on him and pull off," she said.
Video shows the bus wasn't full, and there wasn't a big crowd outside.
The suit alleges the bus driver failed to see Payne. It also says, among other things, he failed to use mirrors to check the passenger side before taking off.
"Bus drivers, the CTA, are held to the highest duty of care to their passengers and to the traveling public," Taxman said.
"If they would look back on and see what happened with Michael, they'd be darn sure to be more careful and cautious," Verna Payne said.
Because litigation is pending, the Chicago Transit Authority is unable to comment. But, general CTA policy says drivers are to use mirrors to check on people boarding and exiting. Policy also guides operators to help customers with disabilities.
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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS contributed to this report.
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