Victim in Milwaukee bus crash identified

A Milwaukee County bus driver had just stopped to let passengers off and had turned a corner when something hit the rear wheel.

He thought it was a traffic cone. When he looked in his mirror, he saw a person. The driver immediately stopped and called 911.

Angel R. Castillo-Rivera, the man who was hit, died from his injuries.

The details of the crash — which occurred overnight Saturday at W. Wisconsin Ave. and N. 35th St. — were released Monday in reports from the Milwaukee County medical examiner’s office.

The reports noted Castillo-Rivera, 53, was wearing dark clothing and it was raining at the time.

The 48-year-old bus driver stayed at the scene and was cooperating with the investigation, Milwaukee police said.

The crash will be reviewed by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office when the investigation is completed, police said.

On Sunday, the transit system reiterated in a social media post that it was cooperating with police and extended “our deepest sympathies” to the man’s friends and family.

The bus driver has been with the system for nearly 20 years and is on leave during the internal investigation, which is standard practice in any accident case, said Brendan Conway, spokesman for the transit system.

“All the information we have at this point is that this seems to be an accident, but obviously we will wait for the investigation to wrap up,” Conway said in an email. “This driver is highly skilled and (has) a very good work history.”

The last fatal crash involving a county bus was reported in 2010, he said.