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Port Authority says driver followed rules refusing to let passengers aid dying woman

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

By Lillian Thomas, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A passenger on a Port Authority bus involved in an accident Friday said that the driver refused to let him off the bus to help the 78-year-old victim lying on the street.

	"There were 25 people on the bus, at least one of whom might have been able to help. You felt like you were in jail," - Coleman Hughes. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

"Here's a woman who just collapsed on the pavement, and cars are whizzing by, and the driver seemed more concerned to say that she was at fault for the accident," said Coleman Hughes, 43, of Mount Washington.

"There were 25 people on the bus, at least one of whom might have been able to help," he said. "You felt like you were in jail."

The accident occurred at 12:48 p.m. Friday as Shirley Gerstein of Shadyside was driving on the exit ramp off the Highland Park Bridge leading to Freeport Road. Her car was struck by a 91A bus when she attempted to make an illegal left turn onto Freeport Road, according to the Port Authority report.

Gerstein died from her injuries early Sunday morning. Allegheny County police are investigating.

Hughes was riding in a front-facing seat near the front of the bus. He said he was reading and didn't see the collision but looked up as soon as it occurred.

"She took the impact right behind her door," said Hughes, who called the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sunday night after hearing that the victim might have died.

Hughes said the impact of the crash threw Gerstein to the other side of her car. He said he could tell there was something wrong after she got out from the passenger side.

"You could tell she was in shock or seriously dazed. She was just looking around. She walked toward the front of the car, then back. I was thinking she might be OK. Then she sat down in the passenger side of car, but she put her legs down on pavement. Then she just collapsed right onto the ground.

"I said, 'Let me off the bus. This lady just collapsed.' " said Hughes, who is trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. "The driver said, 'No one is getting off this bus.' He said no one was going to get off the bus until the Port Authority police came. I said, 'Why don't you get off the bus and go assist her?' He said, 'Nobody's getting off the bus.' "

According to spokeswoman Judi McNeil, bus operator Christopher Kelly was following Port Authority procedures. Kelly, who was hired in 2001, could not be reached for comment.

"All bus drivers are trained to keep people on the bus in an accident," she said. "Port Authority training staff have been told by emergency personnel that they want passengers kept on the bus for their safety and so that they are not wandering around an accident scene."

Hughes said Gerstein lay in the middle of the road for about three minutes before a car stopped and a man got out and put a coat over her. He said it was another several minutes before paramedics arrived. He didn't see anyone giving medical aid before paramedics arrived.

McNeil said Kelly did not believe Gerstein was seriously injured because she was walking around. In fact, Kelly said the woman came to the driver's window while he was calling for help.

"He did what he was supposed to do," said McNeil. "He called traffic division, to call for emergency assistance. The woman in the accident approached the driver side window while he was calling. She did not appear to be injured, she was not visibly injured. He said he'd be with her in a minute. She walked to her car and then he didn't know what happened to her."

But before paramedics arrived on the scene, Kelly told Port Authority officials, he saw someone with a stethoscope who appeared to be attending to the woman.

Kelly acknowledged that a couple of people asked him to get off the bus, but they did not identify themselves as paramedics or emergency medical personnel, McNeil said.

Sgt. Chris Kearns of the Allegheny County Police said that the dispatch log shows that the call on the accident came in at 12:50 p.m. The ambulance was dispatched at 12:52 and was on scene 12:55.

Gerstein died at 3:14 a.m. Sunday of blunt force trauma to the head, according to the Allegheny County coroner's office. Her death was ruled an accident.

Kearns said the initial investigation indicated that Gerstein was either trying to make a left turn onto Freeport Road, or cutting straight across the road to go to a ramp to Route 28. Accident investigators also said she was not wearing a seat belt. Homicide detectives have interviewed a number of witnesses, including people in traffic at the time and passengers on the bus. Hughes was interviewed yesterday afternoon.

Hughes worked for Starwood Hotels & Resorts for 15 years, and said as part of his job he was recertified each year in CPR and first aid. His last job with the company, which owns the Westin chain brand, was as director of operations at the former Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh. He left in April 2000 to start a consulting firm.

Gerstein's injuries might very well have been too massive for Hughes to have done anything that would have made a difference, but the idea that people were prevented from attempting to give aid and comfort to a badly injured woman is what bothers him.