WASHINGTON - A tour bus driver who made an illegal left turn and fatally struck two tourists in a downtown District of Columbia crosswalk in 2018 was sentenced to six months in jail Monday.
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During an emotional sentencing hearing, D.C. Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson sentenced Gerard James, 46, to four years in prison, which was the maximum under the plea agreement James agree to with prosecutors in September. But citing James' "obvious remorse and contrition" in the case, she suspended all but six months.
The 2018 crash killed Monica Adams Carlson, 61, and her mother, Cora Louise Adams, 85, who were hit at about 9:40 p.m. that Dec. 19 evening as they crossed a street.
Carlson was the mayor of Skagway, Alaska; Adams, who lived in Elbe, Washington, ran a hamburger stand for tourists and hikers at Mount Rainier. The women had traveled to Washington to visit the White House and see Christmas decorations.
James, who was a driver for Eyre Bus, Tour & Travel, ignored a red arrow prohibiting a left turn, Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward O'Connell said in court. James steered onto the street where the two women, who had a green pedestrian crossing signal, had just stepped off the sidewalk. Both women were hit and later died of traumatic injuries.
What remained unclear, the judge said, was the reason James made that left turn. At the time of his arrest, authorities said a video from inside the bus showed James reaching for a cellphone.
[Court docs: D.C. bus driver was using cellphone when he struck and killed Skagway mayor, her mother]
James' attorney, Todd Baldwin, played a video in court that showed that James had already made the turn before the phone began ringing. The video, Baldwin pointed out, also showed James silencing the phone, not answering it. Baldwin also argued that the intersection was poorly lit.
"I am so sorry. I made a tragic mistake that night," James said as a courtroom clerk handed him a box of tissues that he used to wipe his tears. James said he had the names of the victims tattooed on his chest above his heart. "There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about them."
The judge allowed James to return home to Baltimore with his family but ordered him to turn himself in to authorities March 19.
After the hearing, Robert Carlson, Monica Adams Carlson’s husband, declined to comment on the sentencing. But Carlson did say more needs to be done about the city’s distracted-driver laws.