A California woman who lost a leg after she was hit by a Community Connector bus in Bangor nearly two years ago has sued the city, the bus service and the five other municipalities the system serves.
Amarylis Fisher, 74, of Elk Grove, California, was crossing Main Street by its intersection with Hammond Street in downtown Bangor on Aug. 15, 2020, when she was struck and knocked down, then run over by a bus, the complaint claims.
She is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, but filed a claim with Bangor two months after she was struck, demanding $15 million from the city.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Penobscot County Superior Court by Bangor attorney Charles Gilbert.
Attorney Frederick Costlow, who is representing Bangor in the case, declined to comment on the complaint Wednesday, as he had not yet received it.
Fisher was visiting the Queen City when she suffered “catastrophic injuries” in the collision, including the amputation of a leg at the hip, the complaint said. Her other injuries included a fracture of her pelvis and severe abrasions that required multiple skin grafts.
She spent more than four months at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center before she was moved to a rehabilitation facility, the complaint said. Fisher now uses a wheelchair, and her active lifestyle has been curtailed so that she essentially is homebound, according to the lawsuit.
Fisher claims that she was in the crosswalk with a flashing walk sign when she was struck by the bus that had turned right off Hammond Street and onto Main Street. No one else was injured, and the driver was never charged.
In addition to the Community Connector and Bangor, Fisher sued Brewer, Hampden, Veazie, Old Town and Orono, the communities that joined Bangor in forming a transit district to operate the bus system. The lawsuit claims the communities are responsible for any potential negligence by the bus service’s drivers.
Although Maine tort law limits municipalities’ liability in personal injury cases to $400,000, the lawsuit claims that because the communities receive federal funds to support the bus system, they must carry a minimum of $5 million in insurance each, just as interstate bus companies are required to do.
