Milwaukee Police say a driver died after blowing through a red light late and crashed into a Milwaukee County Transit System bus late Thursday night.
Seven other people were hurt. MPD reported that the car was traveling west on Capitol Drive when the driver ignored a red light at North 35th Street and slammed into the bus. That bus was heading north at the time of the collision.
The injured included the bus driver and passengers of both vehicles.
Terrianna Edwards was emotional as she talked with TMJ4 News. She could not believe that her best friend and the godfather of her daughter was gone. Edwards says a bystander's cellphone video of the aftermath posted to social media makes the pain worse.
"He didn't even get to make it to the hospital. He just died right in the car," Edwards said through tears. "I'm just heartbroken. I can't believe that this is our reality like, never seen it coming."
"It's just sad because when stuff like this happens a life doesn't come back," said Tamika Harris, another close friend of the driver killed.
Authorities have not yet identified the driver who died.
Data from the state and Milwaukee Police shows that since January 2023 alone there have 9 deadly crashes on Capitol Drive. Two of those incidents include the crash at North 35th Street and Capitol Driver from Thursday night, as well as, a collision at North 42nd Street and Capitol Drive that happened the same day.
In a number of cases, speed is a factor.
"That street should have some additional focus just because of the sheer number of speeding and crashes and deadly crashes that we've seen," Mayor Cavalier Johnson stated.
Mayor Johnson's administration has made ongoing efforts to make Milwaukee streets safer.
TMJ4 News asked him what other traffic calming measures he wants to see on Capitol Drive and if the state should be helping more.
"More needs to be done. So we would encourage and would appreciate any support the state would be able to give us to help on that issue," Mayor Johnson said.
Close friends say they are having a hard time understanding what happened at 35th and Capitol because they knew the person killed to be a safe driver.
"People need to start driving safe. I don't know why he did that. I don't know what was wrong with...what happened to make him speed because that's not him. That's out of his character," Edwards responded.
"Please please slow down. That's all it takes is a split second for a person's life to change. It's not worth it," Harris added.
Five other people including the bus driver and passengers of both vehicles were taken to a hospital.
Two others who were riding the bus were treated at the scene.
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