Port Authority drivers ordered to stand trial in Pittsburgh bus crash

Two Port Authority bus drivers were ordered to stand trial today on charges that they drove recklessly on Interstate 279 in September, causing a crash that left one of them seriously injured.

Thomas Frauens, 56, of Brookline, and Juliann Maier, 46, of Ross, appeared in Pittsburgh Municipal Court this morning for a four-hour hearing in which a prosecutor, for the first time, publicly played surveillance video collected from a bus driven by Mr. Frauens Sept. 22.

District Judge Eugene Ricciardi also heard testimony from two officers, including one who inspected Ms. Maier's bus after the crash, four witnesses who saw portions of the crash or the moments leading up to it and one Port Authority employee who testified that the speedometer on Mr. Frauen's bus was inaccurate.

Both face charges including recklessly endangering another person, reckless and careless driving and other driving violations. Mr. Frauens also faces charges for leaving the scene and failing to properly notify authorities of it, although his defense attorney argued against it, saying there was not sufficient evidence that the two buses ever collided before Ms. Maaier’s bus went off the road. 

Ms. Maier suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a broken pelvis, and multiple lacerations as a result of the crash. She was using a cane during Friday’s hearing.

The hearing opened with testimony from a woman named Karen Marchetti, who testified that she was driving on the interstate when she saw the two buses and, "I noticed that they were swaying back and forth in their respective lanes."

Each of the buses approached the center line at some point, she said, and they alternated their positions relative to one another -- with Mr. Frauens' bus sometimes being ahead of Ms. Maier's and vice-versa.

She described their movements as "jockeying," a term to which the defense attorneys disputed.

Ms. Marchetti said she pulled back to increase the distance between her and the buses and at some point the buses "contacted" and a green bus -- which officials said was driven by Ms. Maier -- went off the right-hand side of the road and through a guardrail.

Ms. Marchetti parked in the left-hand berm of the road. "I put my flashers on, and that's when I called 911," she said.

A large portion of the hearing revolved around testimony provided by Port Authority police Officer Matt Geffel, who led the crash reconstruction and, along with assistant district attorney Brian Catanzarite, walked the judge step-by-step through surveillance footage that captured portions of the crash.

Officer Geffel noted portions of the video where Mr. Frauens took his hand off the wheel and appeared to wave to someone, as well as another point where Mr. Frauens made a "buggy-whipping motion" -- a characterization to which both defense attorneys objected.

The officer also discussed various dents and "paint transfers" found on each of the buses after the crash -- evidence, he said, of a crash.

A short while after the crash occurred, Officer Geffel said, witnesses told police two buses were involved and the Port Authority called out for any drivers involved in the crash to contact them. Surveillance video shows that Mr. Frauens got out of his bus for several minutes, then got back on and continued to drive his route, picking up passengers, police said.

His defense attorney, Bruce Carsia, asked Officer Geffel if he was aware that Mr. Frauens had contacted someone at the Port Authority about the crash. Officer Geffel said he reviewed 911 calls, calls to the Port Authority traffic center and Mr. Frauens' phone records and found no evidence of such an interaction.

The hearing was at times heated, with Ms. Maier's attorney, Joel Sansone, and Mr. Catanzarite repeatedly objecting to one another's statements, and Mr. Frauens and Ms. Maier at points shaking their heads from side to side while the prosecution presented its case.

Mr. Carsia argued there was not enough evidence to prove that the two buses collided before Ms. Maier’s bus crashed and that his client, therefore, did not have an obligation to stop and render aid.

Mr. Sansone focused on a sway bar that he was said was damaged on his client's bus when his expert examined it but that a Pittsburgh police officer said did not appear damaged when he examined it in a Port Authority garage three days after the crash.

Some of the tension that existed inside the hearing spilled into the hallway afterward. Mr. Sansone called much of the prosecution's evidence "baloney," saying, "There is no evidence that my client did anything on purpose or that Tom Frauens did anything on purpose to put anybody in danger...My client ought to be apologized to and the district attorney ought to turn in his badge and he ought to leave office because he doesn't know what he's doing."

Mike Manko, spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, described the case as a “very serious matter.”

“These two defendant’s endangered a significant number of innocent people. If the second bus had lost control and impacted oncoming traffic, the results could have been catastrophic. As for the professional conduct of a defendant's attorney, any issues arising from such conduct will be dealt with in the proper forum.”