For Vilnius, the bus trip almost ended tragically – I thought I’d crawl down the street

Although a little over a year has passed since the bus trip, the woman still cannot forget this almost tragically unfinished trip. No less it hurts her that the driver did not even admit that she was injured, neither during the investigation nor during the criminal proceedings against her.

And where is the indifference of the police: “The driver then opened the door, came, looked and left immediately, and the officers who arrived told me that this was not an accident, and he left without waiting.”

The whole story got stuck on the woman not only because of the injuries she had to treat for more than a month, but also because it was the first day of quarantine announced by the government for the coronavirus pandemic, on March 19. He drove on Route 114: Šiaurės miestelis-Vinciūniškės.

“Both the bus and the streets were almost empty that day, so the bus ran very fast,” he said. – Now I have a hard time remembering all the details, but it all happened when the bus stopped at the stop and opened the door – I was trying to get out the passenger door in the middle of the bus. But I didn’t go out, the bus driver slammed the door suddenly, so my leg was already out, the other was compressed. “

The woman said she put her left foot on the road when she got off the bus because the bus didn’t stop right next to the curb.

“My only leg was already on the asphalt, my body was no longer on the bus, I just felt the bus door squeeze my leg; suddenly I fell forward with my right arm,” the shuttle bus passenger recalled. – I was in a big shock, I couldn’t even scream – well, there was a woman at the stop who started yelling at the driver to open the door. He opened it, then he got out, he looked at the wheels of the bus, he didn’t even apologize to me, he didn’t ask me if I was hurt, he just accused me of holding the door and supposedly closing it for that. But outside the door I couldn’t stand it and I was almost out! But the driver didn’t listen to me, he got back on the bus and left. “

The victim said the driver’s behavior surprised her no less.

“So I called the ambulance, the police came, they said there was no traffic accident and I left, and then the ambulance came, I told the doctors that I had a leg under pressure, I fell and couldn’t move my hand – I was taken to the hospital, “he said.

Although the police officers arrived at the scene and told the woman that the accident when getting off the bus was not a traffic accident, however, she was summoned to the police station; medics informed the injured passenger. But the victim could not say anything about the driver, due to the scare he could not even notice the plates of the bus.

“All I remember is that the driver was gray-haired, in a jacket, but I didn’t look anymore,” he said. And when he saw the processed driver in the courtroom, he said he did not know if it was the same person who was sitting behind the wheel of the bus that day.

“I didn’t notice him, I just realized he was messy, and so on,” he said.

The victim claimed in court that she was unable to work due to injuries sustained and suffered financial loss: she was paid only 60%. salary received.

“I was incapacitated for about 3 months, I did not receive any salary during the first two months, only a benefit from Sodra, and I was incapacitated for part of June,” he said. Besides the dilated veins, it was estimated at 900 Eur.

According to her, this is a small amount because she has had a cast on her arm for up to six weeks, and she still feels pain at times where she was injured.

At the time, the bus driver, who had been indicted by the prosecution for negligent injury to a passenger, explained in court that he had never crushed anything in the bus fleet during his work year, had not even been involved in an accident. .

“There were no women on the bus he was driving,” the man explained. “I always make sure people get in and out. If something had happened, they wouldn’t have left the scene.”

The driver explained that he knew perfectly well the route of the road because he had been driving it for about 3 years.

During the investigation, the police officers wanted to see videos from the video cameras on the bus, but the municipal transport company had not saved them. It was also not possible to find people who were driving the same bus at the time, but it was possible to determine from the victim’s “Vilnius card” which bus he was driving on.

Employees of the State Forensic Medicine Service told the court that a woman injured in a traffic accident had been diagnosed with a fracture in the lower end of the right radius. This injury is classified as a minor health disorder.

Although the bus driver denied his guilt, the Vilnius city district court judge Asta Benetytė, who examined the criminal case, noted that the version presented by the driver in court that there was no such event in his responsibilities of labor practice ”.

According to the court, the driver, forced to be careful, attentive and helpful, performed his duties carelessly and with poor quality and negligence, not making sure that all the passengers got off, closed the bus door, which put pressure on the leg of the victim, causing him to fall to the ground and suffer dexterity in the right hand, fracture of the lower end.

“In this way, the driver, acting with criminal negligence, easily annoyed the victims,” ​​emphasized Judge A. Benetytė.

According to her, the driver, depending on the circumstances and his experience and education, had and could have foreseen that “such an act may result in injury to a person, but he did not foresee it.”

“It was established in the case that before the victim got off the bus, the driver suddenly closed the door, without being convinced that it was safe to do so,” according to the court, the driver had to anticipate that this could be one or the other consequences, behave in a way that does not endanger passengers and close the door only when it is safe to do so.

After assessing the circumstances of the case, the judge decided to find the bus driver guilty and imposed a fine of 1,500 euros. In addition, the court fully estimated the victim’s claim for property damages of 600 euros and non-pecuniary damages of 900 euros.