In the past few weeks, Madison Metro and the Madison Police Department made significant progress in
their ongoing investigations regarding the bus that killed a University of Wisconsin library employee.
On the morning of June 22, Maureen Grant, 58, an employee at Memorial Library, was struck and killed by a Madison Metro bus at the
corner of Lake Street and University Avenue.
An MPD incident report said the accident occurred as Grant
was walking within the crosswalk with a cross signal. The Metro bus
turned left onto University Avenue from Lake Street and struck the woman.
MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said an ongoing investigation has been taking place
since the incident.
On June 30, MPD issued the Metro bus driver, Debra Foster, 52, of Madison, a
traffic citation for failure to yield to a pedestrian.
DeSpain said the citation acts like a traffic ticket. Foster has the option to either pay
the citation or challenge it. He said this citation includes a fine of $88.80.
DeSpain said Foster is scheduled to appear in municipal court on Aug. 2.
Wisconsin State Patrol, Metro, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office and MPD have each been working on separate investigations to send to the district attorney’s office.
The DA will examine the information gathered by these three entities.
DeSpain said
charges would later be decided upon by the district attorney.
“Our investigation is not yet closed,” said Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch. “It won’t
be completed until we get information from the DA to see what they
conclude. It’s an active investigation in their office.”
Metro’s investigation has included review of materials that may have been
responsible for causing the accident. Rusch said the bus was impounded and
inspected, and video was pulled from the bus for review.
“The DA has the final say in concluding what charges will be made,” DeSpain
said. “Citations are handled through municipal court, while the district DA handles charges
at the state level.”
DeSpain said MPD’s investigators believed they had enough information to issue
the citation and other charges would be decided upon as the investigation in the DA office comes to a close.
