Posted on 11/09/2009 8:55:18 PM PST by doug from upland
MTA bus driver who hit FIT student had been suspended for texting
BY Pete Donohue DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, November 9th 2009, 4:00 AM Jeremy Philhower was driving city bus on Wednesday when he hit student Seth Kahn (below). Oates for News Jeremy Philhower was driving city bus on Wednesday when he hit student Seth Kahn (below). Related News
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Police haven't charged NYC Transit driver Jeremy Philhower with wrongdoing in connection with 22-year-old Seth Kahn's death, and they don't believe texting was involved. But he wouldn't have been on the road at all if transit bosses had their way, sources said.
Philhower, 39, of Staten Island, was suspended weeks before the accident and the agency had begun disciplinary proceedings to fire him, sources said.
Investigators said he used his phone to post disparaging comments about his passengers to Facebook while on duty. Instead of firing him, an arbitrator ordered Philhower sent to driver safety and customer service training courses, sources said.
Philhower's first day back was Wednesday, the day he hit Kahn. An eyewitness said Kahn was sprinting across Ninth Ave. when he was struck by the bus, which was turning left from W. 53rd St.
Transit officials checked Philhower's cell phone, which was in a bag near his seat. The phone hadn't been used, the source said. A bus driver is prohibited from having a phone or other electronic device in hand when behind the wheel, whether the bus is moving or not.
Friends and family at Kahn's packed funeral yesterday were outraged to learn he had a history of texting from the driver's seat.
"That guy shouldn't have never been allowed to drive people around. It's not right," said a relative. "Seth deserved a better ending than that."
"I can't believe a bus driver would be updating Facebook when he's supposed to be giving all his attention to driving. It's so outrageous," said friend Jessica Snell, 24.
Kahn, of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, graduated last year from the University of Delaware, where he founded a chapter of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. He was getting a degree at Fashion Institute of Technology in toy design. More than 100 of his frat brothers were at the funeral at Temple Israel in New Rochelle.
Angelo Tanzi, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 726, said Philhower was getting counseling but was struggling.
"You come to work to drive a bus - do your job," Tanzi said. "You don't come to work expecting something like this to happen."
"My brother is very distraught right now," a woman who identified herself only as Philhower's sister said outside his Staten Island house.
"Our hearts go out to the family. It's a terrible accident."
pdonohue@nydailynews.com
With Rich Schapiro, Kevin Deutsch, Kate Nocera and Henrick Karoliszyn
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/11/09/2009-11-09_driver_flunked_text_had_just_returned_to_bus_job_when_vehicle_killed_student.html#ixzz0WQfoHgCT
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