Bus Crash Reveals a Hero out of a Driver

On the late afternoon of the 11th of January 2019, Police Const. Corey Bourguignon was in Vanier when he received a call from shaken bus driver identified as Aissatou Diallo.

In this radio dispatch call, she reported that the double-decker bus she was driving has slammed into an awning, and there were wounded passengers she couldn’t access.

Backup arrived within 16 minutes, and the special constable of the OC Transport had begun triaging the wounded to safety. Bourguignon then proceeded to take the bus driver’s account of what might have caused the collision.

According to Diallo, the Express Bus had too many passengers on board. When the double-decker bus had veered sideways, she became unable to stop the bus from going directly to the bus shelter by the curb.

She also shared how she helped passengers off-load on the main floor and aided as many of them as she could before any medical assistance arrived. Diallo remained cooperative for the duration of the process and expressed her genuine concern for the wounded.

Unfortunately, this accident claimed the lives of three passengers seated at the upper deck, namely 56-year-old Bruce Thomlinson, 57-year-old Judy Booth, and 65-year-old Anja Van Beek.