While many transit properties deploy on-board security cameras to protect drivers and deter violence, sometimes the videos can end up in court. Such was the experience of Connecticut Transit, as a video recording provided key evidence in the investigation of a 2009 accident that resulted in a pedestrian death. The Connecticut Law Tribune recaps the case from the perspective of the victim’s lawyer; the state’s insurance representatives could not be reached for comment.
Here’s what the Tribune said. At first it looked like the pedestrian was at fault; he was crossing the street against the light while talking on his cell phone. But once his lawyer discovered that CTTRANSIT buses are equipped with video cameras (“This was something I was unaware of,” he told the Tribune), the investigation turned around. The lawyer hired an expert to piece together the raw footage from the bus’s six cameras into a single narrative. The resulting video showed that the driver was not looking forward when he struck the pedestrian; instead he was checking traffic to his left as he made a left turn. According to the story, the video turned what the lawyer considered a “50-50 case” into a $3.9 million settlement for the plaintiff. Link to full story in The Connecticut Law Tribune.
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