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Prosecutors: MTA bus driver stopped for seconds, drove off after fatally crashing into Brooklyn woman – Metro US

Prosecutors: MTA bus driver stopped for seconds, drove off after fatally crashing into Brooklyn woman

Prosecutors: MTA bus driver stopped for seconds, drove off after fatally
Reuters

The driver accused of striking and killing a 70-year-old woman with an MTA bus in Brooklyn allegedly only paused for five seconds before he drove off to the bus depot.

Prosecutors said Paul Roper, 48, only stopped the out-of-service bus briefly after he hit Carol Bellas she crossed Fulton Street with her wheeled walker on Tuesday morning.

RELATED: MTA bus driver charged after fatally striking 70-year-old Brooklyn woman: NYPD

Roper was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failure to yield to Bell. A judge revoked his license and set a$25,000 bail.

A driver with the MTA for 15 years, Roper was suspended without pay as both the transit agency and police investigated the crash.

Surveillance video obtained and published by NBC New York shows Bell crossing the street, already halfway down the street right before she gets hit by the bus.

The complaint filed by prosecutors said Roper never stepped out of the bus before he swerved away from the intersection and Bell’s body.

After his arrest, the New York Times reported Roper was previously arrested for unrelated drug possession and assault charges between 2007 and 2012.

His defense attorney argued Roper has never been criminally convicted. Roper is due back in court on Nov. 9