Bus Operator Gives Gripping Testimony in Pena Case

Bus Operator William Pena

FRIDAY, March 17 -- A Bus Operator who was driving his private car to work happened to be the closest eyewitness to the tragic crash that took fellow Bus Operator William Pena’s life on February 12, 2014. Edward Barona, a 20-year NYCT veteran out of MJ Quill Depot, recounted what happened to the jury as Pena’s widow, Nancy Rodriguez, dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Barona, who stands about 6’ 2”, worked the same tour as William Pena at MJ Quill, and they sat together and joked together in the swing room. Each morning, he would wake at 4 AM and drive to work from Brooklyn, taking 14^th Street from East to West after exiting from the FDR Drive. At 5:50 AM, he told the jury, he was approaching the intersection of 14^th Street and 7^th Avenue when “I saw a box truck coming full-on on 7^th Avenue heading south. It was going real fast, with no intention of stopping. At the same time the M14 bus was crossing 7^th Avenue, going eastbound. I saw the truck going southbound against the light, full blast.”

He continued: “All I could do was hold onto the steering wheel and brake real hard. The [front of the] bus had just left the intersection when the truck came smack dead center into the bus on the driver’s side. When it hit the bus, it was still going like the driver was still pushing on the gas. The tires were making a screeching sound. It took the bus and pushed it and both vehicles went into the side of the building.

Barona jumped out of his car and called 911 on his cellphone. He ran to the bus but didn’t see William Pena, who had been ejected from his seat and was under the vehicle. In the 911 call, played in open court, Barona is heard reporting injuries to a passenger on the bus whose head was bloody from the crash, and to two other civilians who were lying on the street. He tells EMS that he can’t find the Bus Operator. Barona continued to work at MJ Quill and told the jury: “I went to my depot and reported what I saw to my union and to management – my crew dispatcher. I began working my shift, driving my bus. I started shaking. I called a higher-up. That’s when they took me off the bus.”

Following Barona, NYCT’s Supervisor in charge of accident investigation, Joseph A. Covelli, took the stand, leading the jury through his reconstruction of the accident based on data downloads from the “clever device,” which is a sophisticated instrument that records all inputs from bus systems in half-second increments. Covelli’s testimony and graphs from instrumentation established that the bus was rocked by two heavy impacts, the first from Whilby’s truck hitting just at the driver’s side front wheel, the second from the building at the intersection of 14^th Street and 7^th Avenue as the bus crumpled against the façade. Covelli's analysis showed that William Pena was incapacitated immediately after Whilby’s truck hit the bus, unable to handle the controls, and that the truck hit the bus with such force that it instantly stopped the wheels from turning. Covelli explained this from the impact traces on the wheel well and wheel rims, which were distinct and not spread out over the circumference of the wheel.

The prosecution’s direct testimony continues Monday, and the defense is expected to mount their case sometime next week. On Monday, March 20, at the 10 AM morning session, the jury and spectators will see a compilation video obtained at nine locations from video cameras documenting Domonic Whilby's actions from the time he entered the 1OAK club until he stole the truck that he ran into William Pena's bus.

Every TWU Local 100 member’s participation and support is welcome at the trial. Court is in session at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan, on the 13^th Floor, part 32 (Judge Gregory Carro), and the sessions begin at 10 AM weekdays each day except for Wednesday.