Wife of husband killed after they were hit by SEPTA bus speaks out
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia woman wants justice while she recovers physically and emotionally.
Kayla Spooner says she was out with her husband, Michael, in South Philadelphia in early January when they were hit by a SEPTA bus while crossing the street. Kayla was injured, but survived. Sadly, Michael died at the scene.
What we know:
It was January 3rd, at South Front Street and Washington Avenue. Kayla and Michael Spooner were walking in the crosswalk just before 7 p.m. near their home on the way to the Ritz movie theater.
Lt. Brown, with the Philadelphia Police Department Crash Investigation Division, said the couple were crossing northbound on Washington Avenue, when the SEPTA bus was making a turn off Front St. westbound. He stated they were almost at the sidewalk when they were hit.
"Once the light changes back to the crossing person, we started walking across the street and then that was it. The next thing I remember was being on the ground. I had no idea what happened," Kayla stated.
The driver of the SEPTA bus stopped just past the crosswalk after making the left turn through it.
Kayla describes the scene:
"I turned around and in the crosswalk I saw this hat and there was a car stopped at the red light that just asked if I got hit and I said yes, but where's my husband? I just gather myself and he ran over to the bus and said, ‘He's under the bus.’"
"I didn't care about anything else. I ran over. I remember asking if we can get him out. Nobody really had a plan," she continued. "I was like, well I'm getting him out. So, I asked the guy that had stayed if he would help with his legs. I crawled under and grabbed his shoulders. He helped with his legs, so we pulled him out. He was unresponsive. No pulse. So I just jumped right in. I work at a hospital so I started CPR instantly."
"Somebody asked who it was and I just remember saying it was my husband," Kayla recalled.
"There was people in the bus, people on the sidewalk. I just kept going," she commented. "And as soon as the EMTs got there they were able to take over. It was pretty - he was already gone."
FOX 29’s Steve Keeley asked, "You never even saw or heard a bus?"
Family seeks answers after man fatally hit by SEPTA bus in South Philly: 'He did nothing wrong'
The family and friends of 35-year-old Michael Spooner gathered to celebrate his life after he was tragically struck and killed by a SEPTA bus. Now, his family is seeking answers.
Nothing. It was so fast. Like I almost have comfort knowing I didn’t even know what happened. So, hopefully, he didn’t know what happened," Kayla replied.
Keeley went on, "You saw the pedestrian walk sign?"
"Yeah, it wasn’t even the timer counting down. It was the walking man. We had plenty of time. We were halfway across when it actually happened," she said.
The backstory:
They were married days before Halloween, a favorite holiday of hers and one that Michael went along with every year, dressing up with her. A photo displayed in their home shows last Halloween as they handed out a table of treats in costumes with one of their seven adopted animals.
Right after they celebrated their second anniversary, in their living room is a number six balloon Michael got for Kayla to celebrate her sixth anniversary of being cancer-free.
Big picture view:
Michael’s ashes are in an urn in their home next to another box that reads ‘Til Death Do Us Part,’ the box that holds his wedding ring.
Cancer and the sudden death of her 35-year-old husband, all before Kayla has even turned 30.
She says, "I was able to come out on top of cancer, so I’m hoping that with Michael’s help, I’m able to be guided through this in a healing and, you know, make some change and have some good come out of this."
What's next:
A SEPTA spokesperson said the agency would speak with FOX 29 soon on the issue of their buses turning and the sideview mirror blind spot. It had been the subject surrounding a prior pedestrian death, also on Washington Avenue in 2014.
Kayla shared this warning, "It happened again. What’s to say it’s not going to happen again and again and again. The reason I’m doing all this is I hope to actually bring awareness and get something to change. Cause we did everything right. We were in a crosswalk. We waited. Michael had a bright, yellow hat on. And now I just can’t believe, two blocks from our house, something like this could happen, did happen. Is it going to happen to someone else?"