DETROIT – A man was killed Saturday morning while trying to get his bike off a city of Detroit bus.
It happened on Van Dyke Avenue just south of 8 Mile Road.
Police said the man got off the bus and was trying to get his bike from the front rack when the bus ran him over.
Detroit Police Capt. Timothy Leach said they were told it was taking the man longer than usual to remove his bicycle.
"I guess after a while she (the bus driver) thought he was gone," Leach said. "She took off and struck the victim."
Witnesses are having a hard time understanding how the incident though.
"When you take your bike off the front (of the bus), there is no way the bus driver can't see you," Keith Howard said.
Howard also said the bus moved several feet with the victim underneath it.
"He was all the way up to the bus wheel," Howard said. "He wasn't just bumped and laying by the front bumper."
Detroit police, Detroit Transit Police and the Detroit Department of Transportation are investigating the accident.
"This is the first time I've seen this happen," said Detroit police Sgt. Darrell McClendon. "We never expect anything like this, but you expect the unexpected."
McClendon added the driver, who has 15 years of experience, is very shaken up.
"Oh, she's hysterical," he said. "She's in bad shape right now."
The route 48 bus was traveling north on Van Dyke and had 10 people on board when the accident happened.
The driver is not driving another bus and will undergo a drug and alcohol screening, which is standard protocol for an accident.