ATLANTA — The mother of a teenager hit and killed by a MARTA bus is talking to Channel 2 Action News about questions surrounding the driver's story.
Brenda Travis, 19, was killed crossing Lee Street in September.
Investigators said the MARTA bus struck Travis as she walked across the intersection of Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Lee Street. The driver told investigators she was distracted and on her cell phone but witnesses shared video with Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri they say showed the bus traveling too fast as it approached the intersection.
"Her brain wasn't telling her body to breathe," said Travis' mother, Ilada Travis.
Ilada Travis said doctors at Grady Memorial Hospital told her there was nothing more they could do for her daughter. Witnesses said the video showed the moment a MARTA bus struck Travis as she crossed Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard in southwest Atlanta on September 24.
The owner of a restaurant at the corner shared the video with Viteri. He said Travis had nearly reached the corner when the bus hit her. Police charged the driver Leroy Brown. He told investigators Travis had headphones in and was looking down at her phone. Brown had the green light and told police he blew his horn when he saw Travis in the crosswalk.
"If he perceived all of these things then he perceived her. He was the one in control of the bus," said attorney Justin Miller.
Miller is representing Travis' family. He pointed to the signs before the intersection urging drivers to stop for pedestrians within crosswalk.
"It's tragic," Miller said. [You think this was avoidable?] "It was a hundred percent avoidable."
Ilada Travis said she just wants the truth about what led to her daughter's death and is considering legal action against the driver and possibly MARTA.
A spokesperson for the agency said they are continuing to cooperate with Atlanta police's investigation.
'I just came to grips within the last two days that my child will never walk in the door again," Ilada Travis said.
Ilada Travis said she also hopes to locate a man who rushed to help and held her daughter after the bus hit her. She said she wants to thank him. She also wants anyone who saw what happened to contact investigators.
Atlanta police charged Brown with 2nd degree vehicular homicide and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
WSBTV
