Detroit bus driver to spend at least 6 months in jail after second fatal pedestrian crash

Geraldine Johnson

A Detroit Department of Transportation bus driver charged with hitting and killing a person who was crossing the road will spend time behind bars.

Geraldine Johnson was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail and 24 months of probation. 

The first six months will be served in the Wayne County Jail, while the other six months of the jail sentence will be served outside the jail if she follows the conditions set by the court. Some of these conditions include submitting to a mental health evaluation, taking random drug tests, and not using drugs or alcohol. 

Johnson was charged after hitting and killing Janice Bauer as she crossed Griswold in June 2023.

She was charged with moving violation causing death and pleaded no contest to the charge in August. 

Bauer's family was in disbelief when they found out that this wasn't the first time Johnson was involved in a fatal crash.

Detroit sued for bus driver involved in two fatal crashes, 19 total

A DDOT bus driver accused of killing two different people with a Detroit bus is the subject of a lawsuit filed against the city.

Before that incident, the former Detroit Department of Transportation bus driver had been involved in numerous other crashes, including a deadly crash in 2015. She'd been driving a bus for 26 years, a DDOT press release following the crash said.

Johnson hit and killed another person, Joey Davis, back in 2015, 

"It didn’t have to happen. That bus driver should not have been driving that day," Linda Bauer said earlier this year. 

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