Family sues school bus driver, company following death of daughter struck in crosswalk

A Toronto family of a young woman fatally struck by a school bus last October is seeking $9.5 million in damages in a lawsuit filed against the driver and the company that employed him.

The statement of claim was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on Thursday after Toronto police charged the driver, 60, with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death under the Criminal Code and careless driving causing death under the Highway Traffic Act. The bus company is FirstCanada ULC.

Rachel Turner, 22, was struck on Oct. 9, 2024 in the area of Kingston and Kingswood roads. She was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, where she died on Oct. 13, 2024.

According to police, the school bus driver was driving eastbound on Kingston Road when he made a left hand turn to head north on Kingswood Road. As he turned, he struck Turner while she was in a crosswalk and walking west on Kingston Road. The driver remained at the scene.

The lawsuit alleges that the driver was distracted and driving too fast. The lawsuit also claims the company did not provide him with proper training and failed to install safety features on its buses that could have prevented her death.

Susan and Leon Turner, Rachel's parents, said on Friday that they want answers as to how and why the fatal collision happened. They said they also want the bus company to take accountability and to make changes to prevent pedestrian deaths.

"Mainly we want to get answers and there's no other way to actually get those answers," Leon Turner, her father, said. "Rachel's life meant something too."

Susan Turner, her mother, said they want to prevent another family from going through what she and her husband and two other children are experiencing.

"You could never comprehend the pain that a parent feels when a child is taken from them like this," she said. "It's utterly cruel what we are having to go through."

The bus company has not contacted the family and the family has not talked to the driver, she added.

Susan Turner said the lawsuit will not bring back her daughter or their family's happiness. But she said she would like the driver to try to understand the pain he has caused.

"We'd like for him to see what he's done to our family and the beautiful person that he took away from us."

Michael Smitiuch, a lawyer at Smitiuch Injury Law who is representing the family, said the goal of the lawsuit is to prevent such an occurrence from happening to anyone else.

"We're seeking answers. How could this happen in the first place? We want to know what kind of training did this bus driver have? What kind of procedures were in place at this bus company? We want to dig a little deeper and find out more answers about how this possibly could have happened."

Smitiuch said a federal task force investigated school bus safety and made recommendations to Transport Canada in 2019 and 2020. Recommendations included sensors and automated braking systems on buses to detect pedestrians.

"The point of those safety measures is to try and prevent what happened exactly here," he said. "There's little doubt that had they followed through with the recommendations of the task force. If they were on the bus, it would have been a safer environment, I think for everyone concerned, including Rachel."

Her parents said Rachel had recently graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University after majoring in business administration. She was preparing to pursue her MBA.

Leon Turner said his daughter was known to be kind, compassionate, intelligent and creative and she was someone who felt she could make a difference in the world. She was always trying to better herself, he said.

She kept a journal that listed things she was grateful for in her life. She also had a sense of justice, he said.

"She was fearless. If she decided to do something, she went all in on it," he said.

"I think she would be proud. She would want us to push ahead and try to make a change, at least give it the effort."

Brenna Rudisill, spokesperson for First Student, Inc., which speaks for First Canada, said in a statement on Friday: "We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this incident. We are fully cooperating with the authorities as they conduct their investigation. As this is an active investigation, we cannot provide further comment."