Metro says fatal Westlake Avenue bus-pedestrian crash was preventable, agrees to $7.7M settlement

King County Metro Transit has apologized and made a multimillion-dollar payment to the family of John Ahn, a 43-year-old Amazon employee who was killed after work last year by a turning bus on Westlake Avenue.

Ahn had just finished dinner with co-workers the rainy night of Oct. 12, 2017, when he started to cross Westlake Avenue at Blanchard Street. A driver on Sound Transit Route 554 failed to see him, while turning right from Blanchard onto southbound Westlake.

Sound Transit initially told news reporters a pedestrian had walked into the side of the bus. However, the bus-mounted video, examined by investigators from both Metro and Seattle police, showed the right-front corner of the bus knocked him down, and the vehicle struck him twice afterward. Metro operates several Sound Transit routes in King County.

King County issued Ahn’s wife, who is raising their young son, a $4.5 million check in July, and agreed to a total $7.7 million, according to a record released by the county’s risk-management office. The settlement was reached through mediation involving Ahn’s wife’s attorneys, Nelson Lee and Bethany Lee of Seattle, without a lawsuit.

Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/metro-says-fatal-westlake-avenue-bus-pedestrian-crash-was-preventable-agrees-to-7-7m-settlement/