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Pedestrian Janice Bauer
Update: 9:20 a.m. Friday -- The Detroit bus driver charged with running over and killing a 67-year-old woman earlier this month has been fired, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Update: 10:40 p.m. Thursday -- The bus driver charged in the June 2 death of a pedestrian had been in a 2015 crash that also resulted in a fatality and six other crashes since 2018, a magistrate said Wednesday, according to a report in the Detroit News.
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From Wednesday
A city bus driver has been charged with running over and killing a 67-year-old pedestrian in downtown Detroit on June 2.
Bus driver Geraldine Johnson, 59, of Harper Woods, who works for the Detroit Department of Transportation, faces a charge of moving violation causing death. If convicted she could get up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,000.
Authorities allege that Johnson was making a left turn at Griswold and Congress when she struck Janice Bauer of Grosse Pointe Park, who was crossing the street at a green light. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Johnson was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in 36th District Court and given a $25,000 cash bond with a GPS tether and house arrest.
A bond redetermination hearing is scheduled for June 16 before Judge William McConico.
“This case is tragic on every level. Janice Bauer lost her life. The alleged facts are that defendant, Geraldine Johnson, literally ran her over with the city bus she was driving and caused her death,” Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement.
An obitutary for Bauer at the the website of the A.H. Peters Funeral Home said:
Janice was a true “Detroiter.” She was born in Detroit on April 18, 1956 to James and Mary Ann (Slimko) Bauer. She was raised in northwest Detroit and attended St. Monica Catholic School and Redford High School, graduating in 1974.
Following high school, she loved working in downtown Detroit. She spent the first 12 years at the Archdiocese of Detroit starting in the Family Life Office (general clerical, then as a secretary to Director) and then for the Tribunal (also as a secretary). She then moved to the law firm of Dickinson Wright PLLC as a Word Processing Operator for the next 22 years. For most of the last 14 years, Janice worked for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) as ADA Clerk. She loved the city and its offerings of baseball, jazz and other festivals, museums, arts and theater.
She was a huge Tigers fan and a member of the Detroit Historical Society and the Rhythm Section of the Detroit Jazz Fest. In service of community, she volunteered at The Helm, the Detroit Historical Museum and as a reader to children at St. Peters in Harper Woods.
