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Victim Janice Bauer (left) and bus driver Geraldine Johnson
A former Detroit Department of Transportation bus driver, who had a score of accidents on the job, was sentenced Thursday to at least six months in jail for fatally hitting a Grosse Pointe Park woman while she crossed the street in downtown Detroit last year. It was the driver's second bus accident involving a death, with the first happening in 2015.
Geraldine Johnson, 61, of Harper Woods, was sentenced to up to one year in jail and 24 months of probation after pleading no contest in August to a misdemeanor charge of a moving violation causing death. No contest means a defendant accepts the conviction but does not plead or admit guilt.
Detroit 36th District Court Judge Lynise Bryant said that Johnson could serve the first six months in the Wayne County Jail, with the remainder suspended unless she violates her probation.
On June 2, 2023, around 7:35 a.m. Johnson was driving at the intersection of Griswold Street and West Congress Street in Detroit whe she made a left turn onto Griswold, fatally striking the Janice Bauer, 67, of Grosse Pointe Park, who was crossing on a green light. Johnson was fired shortly after the accident.
"This case is tragic on every level," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. "Janice Bauer lost her life. The alleged facts are that defendant, Geraldine Johnson, literally ran her over with the city bus she was driving and caused her death."
On April 4, 2015, Johnson killed bus passenger Joey Davis. She ran him over while he was taking his bicycle off the rack at the front of the bus.
An obitutary for Janice Bauer at the the website of the A.H. Peters Funeral Home in 2023 said:
Janice was a true “Detroiter.” She was born in Detroit on April 18, 1956 to James and Mary Ann (Slimko) Bauer. She was raised in northwest Detroit and attended St. Monica Catholic School and Redford High School, graduating in 1974.
Following high school, she loved working in downtown Detroit. She spent the first 12 years at the Archdiocese of Detroit starting in the Family Life Office (general clerical, then as a secretary to Director) and then for the Tribunal (also as a secretary). She then moved to the law firm of Dickinson Wright PLLC as a Word Processing Operator for the next 22 years. For most of the last 14 years, Janice worked for the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) as ADA Clerk. She loved the city and its offerings of baseball, jazz and other festivals, museums, arts and theater.
She was a huge Tigers fan and a member of the Detroit Historical Society and the Rhythm Section of the Detroit Jazz Fest. In service of community, she volunteered at The Helm, the Detroit Historical Museum and as a reader to children at St. Peters in Harper Woods.
