ONLY ON ABC-7: Sun Metro fires bus operator after wreck on Stanton Street

Sun Metro fired the driver of the bus that flipped on its side and slid downhill after as it was being “re-cycled.”

The wreck happened on the 4600 block of Stanton on December 26, 2017 at about 2:41 p.m.

Sun Metro told ABC-7 the bus operator, 29-year-old Eric Villafuente, was having problems with his bus and was instructed, that once he got to the end of the line, he should re-cycle the bus.

Recycling a bus means “to shut off all power on the bus and turn it back on,” Sun Metro said.

“When the operator did get to the end of the line, he parked the bus and went outside the bus to shut the bus off from the engine compartment and then turn it back on,” Sun Metro said in a statement, “As the bus was re-cycled, the parking brake released and the bus rolled down the street and hit a tree, thereby causing the bus to flip on its side.”

Sun Metro Director Jay Banasiak said the bus was stopped without proper application of parking brakes and rolled down the hill.

Sun Metro told ABC-7 the bus was not totaled and will be fixed at a body shop. It could not say how much the damage will cost taxpayers.

“The door has interlock parking brakes, so when the door opens, it automatically locks the bus and brakes the bus,” Banasiak said, “So he went to the back of the bus and when he shut off the bus it disengaged the interlock system of the door. And no power meant there’s no braking system energized anymore, and it was a steep hill, so it rolled down and went on its side.”

“We haven’t had this type of accident in ten years I’ve been here,” Banasiak said, “It’s just unfortunate that he didn’t do all the procedures like he was taught.”

Sun Metro will repair all damage to the landscaping and replace the damaged tree. “There were no passengers on the bus. The bus operator is no longer employed with Sun Metro,” officials with Sun Metro said, “Sun Metro is totally committed to be the safest public transportation system as possible.”