Georgia Injury Law Blog
The MARTA driver, who was operating the bus involved in a dragging accident that left a 62-year-old woman seriously injured, has been involved in bus accidents earlier.The woman, Belinda McMillian has been fired since the accident, but records suggest that she had a history of bad behavior on the job. As an Atlanta personal injury attorney, I have too often seen companies fail to rid themselves of problem drivers.
According to her personnel file which runs into 420 pages, she once crashed her bus into a parked car, causing the car to hit another vehicle.In another incident, her bus clipped the mirror of another parked vehicle.Her personnel report also shows plenty of complaints from passengers about her abusive nature.
However last Sunday, McMillian outdid herself.The 62-year-old passenger, who uses a walker, had just gotten off the bus and turned around when she realized that she had left her purse on the bus.Her arm got caught in the closing doors of the bus.What happened next was a nightmare for the woman.McMillian continued to operate the bus, driving on, while dragging the elderly woman alongside the bus.The woman was dragged more than 60 feet, before witnesses got McMillian to stop the bus.When the bus stopped, McMillian opened the door at which point the lady fell on the road.Not bothering to check on the lady, McMillian simply drove off from the scene.
McMillian has been fired from her job.A look at her personnel file shows plenty of complaints from passengers about poor driving, obnoxious behavior and rudeness.Beyond history, McMillian’s attitude towards an injured elderly passenger being dragged along really is extremely disconcerting.
There seem to have been many indications that this was a problem employee.Her file lists dozens of complaints.Last year, she had even been placed in a retraining program.We wonder at what point MARTA begins to get really concerned about a problem employee who is a risk to passengers.