Judge tosses criminal case against bus driver in death

A Little Rock bus driver was cleared in court Tuesday of criminal charges stemming from a bus crash that killed a downtown pedestrian in November 2011.

After several hours of testimony and legal arguments, Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle dismissed the count of misdemeanor negligent homicide that was filed in May against Central Arkansas Transit Authority driver Allen Mems.

Mems, 53, was driving the 10,000-pound public bus west on West Capitol Avenue at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2011, and briefly stopped at the intersection of South Louisiana Avenue to yield to traffic before making a left turn onto the one-way street.

James David Wright, 57, was walking east and was in the crosswalk when the bus struck him. He died later that day from “multiple blunt force injuries,” according to state medical examiners.

Mems, who still is a bus driver for the transit organization, was arrested and charged in the Benton man’s death last May.

Lightle ruled that the charge, along with the sentence that could have resulted in up to a year in jail, did not fit the accident.

“There is nothing good about this [situation],” Lightle said. “I need to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt ... that negligent homicide occurred.

“I’m sorry, I can’t get that [from these arguments]. The case is going to be dismissed.”

According to Arkansas Code 27-50-307, someone is guilty of negligent homicide if he causes a death through “the driving of any vehicle in reckless or wanton disregard of the safety of others.”

City prosecutor Luke Daniel argued that Mems’ “inattention” at the crosswalk, where an experienced driver like Mems would normally encounter pedestrians, led to the death.

“It was an accident. One that could have been prevented,” Daniel said. “All [Mems] had to do was look left. ... He didn’t do that until the moment of impact.”

According to a state Crime Laboratory toxicologist, Mems had traces of several painkillers, including two opiates, in his blood at the time of the crash.

But the toxicologist Don Riddle said the levels were so low that he wasn’t able to accurately quantify them, calling them a “small” amount.

Daniel argued that Mems should not have been behind the wheel with such amounts in his system.

Mems’ attorney, Denese Fletcher, pointed out that Mems was prescribed several medications for pain and that he hadn’t taken the drugs on the day of the accident.

Fletcher added that Mems did look for pedestrians but that according to the testimony of the crash investigator, his view may have been obscured by the angle, as well as by the bus’ side-view mirror.

Daniel’s argument was “stretching everything that can be stretched by the state, and I don’t even know why,” Fletcher said. “It was an accident.”

Mems, along with CATA, are still facing a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Wright’s family, one stating that Mems was not attentive and didn’t have control of his bus at the time of the accident.

That case has yet to go to trial, according to court documents.