Woman, 68, crushed by E. Side bus

[Trainspotter]

Woman, 68, crushed by E. Side bus

BY KRISTEN BROWN and ETHAN ROUEN

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

July 3rd 2008

 

[float=right]

Lourdes Fernandez[/float]A 68-year-old woman running errands near her lower East Side apartment Wednesday was crushed by a city bus that continued on its route as the woman died in the street.

 

Lourdes Fernandez usually went walking only with the help of a home care attendant, but yesterday afternoon braved a trip to the grocery alone to buy bread and cheese, neighbors said.

 

As she crossed Madison St. on her way home about 1:45 p.m., she somehow fell under the rear wheels of the turning bus, witnesses said. The driver of the M22 bus was unaware he had hit Fernandez and drove on, stopping within sight of the accident to pick up passengers, police and witnesses said.

 

Cops finally stopped the bus about a mile away, on Chambers St., long after Fernandez had died.

 

The driver was not charged with a crime.

 

"It's like the whole entire world has ended," said Fernandez's sobbing son, Robert Fernandez, who has lived with her since he was born. "You never think things are going to happen and when they do, you don't want to accept them."

 

Neighbors said the plucky, friendly woman had had a spate of near-death experiences in the past year. She had survived being struck by a car in Santo Domingo.

 

More recently, she was badly burned and lost part of her arm when her stove exploded.

[metsfan]

Tragic. You really gotta be careful on corners, those busses can cut it close sometimes.

 

- Andy

[Pablo M 201]

Man, her life has not been all that great lately. Sad to hear such thing. The driver must be feeling really bad too, and he/she sadly didn't know that someone fell under his/her bus til abit down the road.

[Daniel The Cool]

that's just very sad

[Orion]

This is very sad... I almost teared when reading this. I hope someone saw what caused her to fall down like that.

[DOB2RTO]

Man, her life has not been all that great lately. Sad to hear such thing. The driver must be feeling really bad too, and he/she sadly didn't know that someone fell under his/her bus til abit down the road.

 

MTA won't hear that (even though that is what he most likely will say). How fast were you going, and how were your mirrors set up. Trust me, a Superintendent got behind the wheel of that bus, to see how everything was set up. Hopefully this driver had their act together........MTA will try to do everything in their power to fire him. Hopefully the union will do their job. This driver will never drive again, even if they are still employed by MTA. Care-taking duties will be their new position. I have spoken to many who do care-taking duties, who had fatalities..........

[sebbieprops]

Sad to hear it.