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Scores Of Complaints Filed Against Bus Driver Involved In Fatal Crash

Posted: 5:22 pm PDT May 11, 2007Updated: 6:26 pm PDT May 11, 2007

Through a public disclosure request KIRO 7 Eyewitness News has obtained documents containing nearly 200 passenger complaints against Sandie Olosky, the Metro bus driver involved in a fatal collision last month.

According to state troopers, Olosky was driving a Metro bus in Enumclaw last month when she crossed the center line and slammed into 21-year-old Michael Dalquist’s pickup truck killing him instantly.

Despite the hundreds of complaints KIRO 7 obtained, Metro said there was not enough evidence to discipline Olosky before the crash.

“She was driving erratically, too fast, then quick stops,” one complaint read.

“Riding with her feels like I am in a tin can hurling down the road,” another complaint read.

VIDEO: Multiple Complaints Filed Against Driver Prior To Fatal Collision

Eleven days before the fatal crash Metro put an undercover auditor on Olosky’s bus.

“The operator seemed to be driving a little fast…uncomfortably close behind other vehicles…'tailgating' on both city streets and freeways,” the report filed by the auditor read.

Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond said under the union contract, retraining Olosky would have been the most Metro could have done.

“It would have been better if we had gotten that report before the accident. We would have had a chance to retrain. I can’t say whether that would have prevented the accident,” Desmond said.

Desmond said the auditor did not find enough problems to trigger disciplinary action.

“There’s a ton of these things, there’s no direct path through her for anything but retraining?” KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Graham Johnson asked Desmond about the passenger complaints.

“For the most part, yes,” Desmond responded.

State Troopers are still investigating the crash so they can forward the case to prosecutors.

Olosky could not be reached Friday and her union declined to comment.

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