The bus driver that struck and killed two tourists visiting D.C. in 2018, including the mayor of a small Alaska town, was sentenced to six months in jail Monday.
Gerard James, 45, of Baltimore, was originally handed a four-year sentence but the judge suspended three and a half years.
James pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent homicide.
“My client has been devastated,” defense attorney Todd Baldwin told WTOP, saying that James hasn’t had a traffic accident with a bus for 20 years. “He was a faithful and dedicated employee. One of the best bus drivers that the company [Eyre Bus Company] has had.”
Baldwin said James has gone through counseling and went so far as to have the victims’ names tattooed on his chest over his heart as a daily reminder that he carries them with him for the rest of his life.
“He will always feel that grief and remorse for them,” Baldwin said.
Monica Carlson, 61, the mayor of Skagway, Alaska, and her mother, 85-year-old Cora Adams of Elbe, Washington, were walking in the crosswalk at Pennsylvania Avenue and 7th Street NW on the night of Dec. 19, 2018, when they were hit by the bus. They both later died.
Baldwin said the lighting of the intersection was so poor, “about one-tenth of what it should be,” that James couldn’t see Carlson or Adams.
James also couldn’t see the red arrow, according to Baldwin.
“He was wrong and he admitted responsibility for making the left on a red arrow. He didn’t see the red arrow — I want to make that clear. It was over in a different part of the intersection, not where the green ball was that he saw,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin called allegations that James had been on his cellphone “a total red herring.”
James was allowed self-surrender. He has until March 19 to report.
WTOP’s Michelle Basch contributed to this report.
