School Bus Driver Who Struck, Dragged Pedestrian Issued Summons: NYPD

MIDWOOD, BROOKLYN — The driver who struck a woman with her car while the pedestrian was walking on a crosswalk with the right-of-way has been issued a Failure to Yield summons by the police, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Patch on Thursday.

A store across the street caught the moment on camera when a school bus turning right at an intersection in Midwood plowed into Ayse Ayaz, 43, while she was walking on the crosswalk and caught her under the front of the bus. The incident occurred last Friday afternoon. The driver, 51-year-old Shelly Rudolph, can be seen reacting in shock after exiting the bus and seeing she had trapped a woman under it.

The NYPD had previously declined to send a summons to Rudolph under the pretense that Ayaz's injuries were non-life-threatening, an NYPD spokesperson said.

Ayaz survived, but suffered four broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken leg and a swollen, bleeding eye, the New York Daily News reported. The mother of three won't be able to walk for another three months, she told the Daily News.

Attorney Steve Vaccaro told Patch that he believes the driver should be charged with reckless endangerment and third degree assault if Ayaz brings a complaint against her. According to Vaccaro, the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad has too few officers to investigate all the car accidents worthy of investigation.

The collision squad only investigates a subset of crashes that involve "critical injury," Vaccaro said, which usually means there's some form of life support involved. In that case, Ayaz's case might be viable to be investigated by the squad, Vaccaro said.

If the collision squad were to investigate Ayaz's case, it would be able to look into the driver's cell phone records and see if she was distracted at the time of the crash, Vaccaro said. But if the squad's resources are not used for Ayaz's case, courts have said the driver is not required to produce her cell phone records unless an eyewitness comes forth and says under oath that the driver was on the phone at the time of the crash, Vaccaro said.

"If the victim in this case pursues a personal injury claim, the lawyer that she hires to represent her will probably be thwarted by that," Vaccaro said.

Photo via NYPD surveillance video