Couple sues City of Pueblo after transit bus crashes into home causing thousands in damages
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- A couple is suing the City of Pueblo after a transit bus crashed into their home, causing thousands of dollars in damages. The federal lawsuit filed on June 29 claims that the city bus driver was going above the speed limit and acted recklessly.
The destructive crash happened on June 25, 2022, when an older model Ford Focus collided with the bus at the intersection of Berkley Ave. and Mesa Ave.
The crash sent the bus over the sidewalk and into David and Nancy Salama's Pueblo home.
According to Pueblo Police, two people inside the Ford Focus and two people on the bus were severely injured in the crash.
13 Investigates learned that the city employee driving the bus, Mary Sisneros, was not cited for a crime associated with the crash. However, the driver of the Ford, Elias Montoya, currently has several felony warrants for his arrest which are actively tied to his alleged actions in the crash.
Those warrants lodged against Montoya include charges for felony vehicular assault, car theft, and various misdemeanor charges for driving under the influence and having no valid insurance.
The City of Pueblo and Pueblo Police could not comment further because of the ongoing civil litigation tied to the crash. However, police did say they are actively searching for Montoya and will arrest him when he is located.
While the bus driver wasn't initially cited, the Salama's claim the bus hit their home "with significant enough force to completely destroy it." They claim the bus driver was acting in a "negligent manner," arguing that there was "no reason for the bus to have continued traveling such a great distance after the initial impact if it had been traveling the 30 mph speed limit," the federal lawsuit states.
Their attorneys also claim that a Pueblo Police report indicated that Cisneros was a city employee, but upon further investigation, they learned that she was actually a trainee who was learning how to drive the city transit bus.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Berkley and Mesa Ave intersection has been a problem area for over a decade. The lawsuit found that there have been over 40 accidents at that busy intersection in the last ten years. The Salama's claim the "City has failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the intersection was safe."
The Salama's are now asking to be compensated for "the cost to demolish and rebuild the property, the loss of rental income, inconvenience, aggravation, and annoyance," the lawsuit says.
The filing of this federal lawsuit comes after the Salama's and their attorneys tried to settle outside of court; however, as the lawsuit states, the City of Pueblo "refused Plaintiffs’ demands to compensate Plaintiffs for their damages and losses caused by the Defendant’s acts and omissions."
The City of Pueblo now has 21 days from June 29 to file an answer to the lawsuit in federal court.
Attorneys for the Salama's, Hans Tuft and Alyssa Miller, could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit or the other driver involved in the crash facing charges for their alleged role in causing it.
