Woman hit by bus speaks out

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This article was published 08/04/2015 (3306 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the aftermath of a woman being hit and killed by a Winnipeg Transit bus, Stacey Manzuik says she knows what it’s like to be struck by a bus.

Manzuik said she was walking to work on Nov. 29, 2011, and had just left the curb on Portage Avenue at Carlton Street when an eastbound bus crossing the intersection struck her while trying to avoid her.

“I do remember thinking, ‘You should just relax,’ and then I took a couple of steps off and boom,” she said on Wednesday.

“I was hit by the windshield because a person on the bus sent me a photograph of it. I was off work for nine months. There’s still pain that is always there.

“I’m actually glad I didn’t see it (the bus).”

Manzuik said her injuries included breaking her pelvis and sacrum, but she remained conscious while sprawled on the street.

“When I was lying on the ground, the bus driver stood over me and said he was sorry — I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it.

“But to this day, nobody from Transit has said they are sorry… they wouldn’t even give me a free bus pass.”

She said after her hospitalization, Manitoba Public Insurance covered about 40 sessions of physiotherapy, but since then she has been paying for monthly sessions herself.

Manzuik said she hopes the video cameras on transit buses help determine why a woman was struck by a bus at Keewatin Street and Burrows Avenue on Tuesday. The 72-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It will help her family,” she said. “It’s great they have the cameras.”

Manzuik said she spoke to police at the time of her accident but she doesn’t know what happened to the investigation.

Police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said the investigation is still open because they had trouble getting in touch with the woman. Manzuik said she didn’t know why that was, but she has left a message for investigators to call her.

‘I was hit by the windshield… I was off work for nine months. There’s still pain that is always there’ — Stacey Manzuik

City of Winnipeg spokeswoman Alissa Clark confirmed Manzuik contacted the Transit service in 2011 after beginning a MPI claim. Clark said the Transit service provided video to her and also to police and MPI for their investigations.

Manzuik said she requested the video because she had lingering doubts whether she was crossing on a green light. She said she paid Winnipeg Transit $250 to get the video.

The first part of the video, taken by a camera at the front of the bus, shows Manzuik stepping out in front of the vehicle, which then veers to the left. A second video, taken by a camera pointed at the front door of the bus, shows Manzuik being struck and tossed to the ground.

Manzuik said once she received the video, she knew she had been in the right because she could see a green light pointing toward southbound motorists on Carlton Street.

“I didn’t want to blame someone if it was my own fault.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca