Mayor Michelle Wu’s “independent” investigation into the deadly bus accident in Hyde Park needs to be swift and completely clear and embody the town’s failed oversight of the bus vendor Transdev to be able to guarantee Boston children are protected getting to high school.
The investigation mustn’t take till the tip of Wu’s reelection marketing campaign and will rise above politics within the curiosity of the general public and oldsters.
Wu and BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper ought to already be taking motion to shore up their very own weak oversight of Transdev. And police want to instantly launch the accident report, which has been saved below wraps.
However there are indicators the repair is already in – the investigator, a white collar protection lawyer and former federal prosecutor, has donated to a number of far-left Democrats and works for a politically linked regulation agency. And Wu has already decided it was the seller’s fault and never her administration.
“There are protocols and this is a case where it looks like the responsibilities and obligations of the vendor were not held up,” Wu stated final week.
Wu’s appointment of the investigator – Mintz Levin lawyer Natashia Tidwell – got here only a week after the Herald and a number of other metropolis councilors known as for an out of doors assessment of the crash.
Why did it take Wu so lengthy to nominate an investigator within the April 28 accident that killed a 5-year-old Hyde Park boy, Lens Arthur Joseph?
It seems that she lastly caved to political and public stress due to the horrific nature of the crash and the truth that it was blowing again towards her administration. Tidwell is charged with reviewing current security insurance policies, the bus firm’s efficiency, and making suggestions if extra security measures are wanted.
“The public deserves a full understanding of how this could have happened and what changes are needed,” Wu stated in a press release.
However will the general public actually get a “full understanding” of the accident if the investigation is concentrated on solely Transdev and he or she has already absolved the College division of blame?
And why didn’t Wu appoint somebody with no ties to Boston politics?
Tidwell has donated to plenty of left-of-center Democratic pols, together with Lawyer Normal Andrea Campbell in 2022, 2021 and 2020, former Suffolk County DA Rachel Rollins, Cambridge Metropolis Councilor Paul Toner and Plymouth County DA candidate Rahsaan Corridor, information present.
Tidwell has not donated marketing campaign cash to Wu.
However Wu’s marketing campaign has acquired greater than $28,000 from Mintz Levin legal professionals and staff, in line with marketing campaign finance information.
The Wu administration lastly launched extra detailed details about the accident and the bus driver, Jean Charles, in a Friday information dump, and after almost a month of silence, Transdev launched a press release.
Charles had been concerned in 4 incidents within the final two years, and hit a parked automobile in the course of the day of the deadly accident, however saved driving towards protocol.
It was beforehand reported that Charles’s certificates to drive the bus had expired in 2024, and he didn’t attempt to renew it.
Charles resigned his place after Transdev moved to terminate him.
