DETROIT – A woman watched a video of herself flying across a Detroit bus for the first time after filing a lawsuit against the city of Detroit.
Her attorney said it appears to show the Detroit bus driver slamming on the brakes without cause — sending her flying down the aisle of the moving city bus, allegedly on purpose.
The incident happened on Nov. 6, 2023, near Grand River and Evergreen.
The woman, identified as Angela, said she was injured in the fall and that the driver acted intentionally.
Her attorney, Lawrence Kajy of Kajy Law, said his firm fought for years to obtain the footage, which they believe contradicts the driver’s story.
“It took us two years to get this video,” Kajy said. “And it clearly shows what she’s been saying from the start.”
Angela watched the footage for the first time on Thursday (Oct. 30). In it, she can be seen wearing a red winter coat with a fur-trimmed hood as she boards the bus. She became emotional as the video played.
“Oh — I fell that hard,” she said. “They accused me of attacking the bus driver.”
Angela said her injuries happened after she asked the driver for help when another passenger refused to close a window, explaining that she has asthma. She said the driver refused to help and called her a B**ch. As she turned to return to her seat, according to Kajy, “the video clearly shows” the driver glancing in his rearview mirror before abruptly slamming the brakes.
Angela is seen flying down the aisle, hitting her head and back.
According to a report to transit police, the driver told investigators that a car cut him off, forcing him to brake. But Kajy said the bus’s front-facing camera shows otherwise.
“There’s a camera view of the front of the bus that showed no cars in sight for hundreds of feet,” Kajy said. “When he slammed on the brakes, he was looking back — and he was looking directly at Angela.”
“They’ve been pointing the finger at Angela, saying she’s not been telling the truth — but the video shows she’s been telling the truth from the start,” Kajy said.
Angela said the driver did call 911 after the incident, and she’s grateful for the two men who helped her that day because “no one else seemed to care.”
“He could have killed me that night. He could’ve hurt other passengers on the bus,” she said.
Kajy said Angela suffered injuries to her head and back, and the city and police “failed to investigate what really happened.”
When reached for comment, the city of Detroit issued a brief statement:
“It is the city’s policy to not comment on pending litigation, and it will answer the complaint in its response it files with the court.”
As of Thursday, it was unclear if the driver is still employed by the city.