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AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - The family of avid cyclist and Fox 7 Austin employee Tony Diaz has filed a lawsuit against the bus driver accused of striking and killing him and the company who employed her.
On the night of Jan. 28, authorities say Diaz was struck from behind by a Capital Metro bus and killed on the UT campus.
The lawsuit claims the bus driver, identified as 40-year-old Mindi Stafford, was oblivious to her surroundings.
“She was driving her bus. She was swerving. A lot of passengers were concerned that she was swerving and unfortunately she hit Tony,” said Jeremy Levin, attorney for the Diaz family.
The lawsuit has been filed against Stafford and her employer, not Capital Metro.
“By all indications, Mindi Stafford's employer is RATP-Dev USA,” said Levine. "I believe she worked for Travis Transit Management at some point."
The lawsuit claims Stafford's actions go beyond just negligence. It mentions that authorities discovered four different prescription medications in her backpack, all which listed dizziness and drowsiness as side effects. It also states she failed part of a field sobriety test immediately after the crash.
By filing suit, Levine and the Diaz family are hoping to get to the bottom of the whole situation.
“One of the purposes of our lawsuit against the driver and her employers is to find out how this happened, to find out why a bus driver was driving in the city and was allowed to get on the bus with prescription pain meds and to be on those meds,” said Levine.
Levine said that the bus driver has been indicted for involuntary manslaughter.
“The best way [Diaz] can be remembered is maybe we can shed a great deal of light on procedures that are being followed by these bus companies,” said Levine.
Fox 7 Austin reached out to RATP-Dev regarding this lawsuit and did not receive a response on March 27.