One person hit by Metro bus in Westwood

CINCINNATI – One person is dead after being struck by a Metro bus in Westwood Tuesday night.

Third District officials initially confirmed that a pedestrian was struck by a Metro bus at the Glenway Crossing Transit Center around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Metro later confirmed in a statement that the accident was fatal.

“Metro has confirmed that there was an accident at the Glenway Crossing Transit Center around 10:30 p.m. this evening that resulted in one fatality,” the statement said. “Metro officials are working closely with Cincinnati Police to gather additional details on the incident.”

Matthew Lewis, who was on the bus at the time of the accident, told our team on the scene that the bus driver appeared to have hit a man who was running behind the bus and trying to catch up with him.

“(The driver) had already started driving … he hit the window and then just disappeared,” Lewis said.

Another man who witnessed the accident from outside said the man who was chasing the bus fell off the curb before the driver hit him.

“The bus driver probably had no idea he was there,” the man said.

Lewis said he and others thought the driver had hit the curb before they realized the man had been hit. The driver stopped the bus and people got out, checked on the man and called 911.

“She wasn’t even going that fast, I mean, probably five miles an hour,” Lewis said.

The news comes days after the family of a woman who was struck and killed by a Metro bus in January filed a lawsuit against the driver and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which operates Metro.

RELATED | Family of woman hit and killed by Metrobus sues driver

Beverly Kinney, 87, was killed when Metro driver Deon Willis struck her at the intersection of Dana Avenue and Duck Creek Road in Hyde Park, just about a mile from her home.

Willis is charged with five counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with Kinney’s death.