A charter bus hit and killed a woman in her early 30s crossing the street at St. Mary’s and Market streets on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
Police responded to the intersection at 4:25 p.m., San Antonio Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Ramos told reporters. After emergency medical services arrived, first responders pronounced the woman, who was a City of San Antonio employee, dead at the scene.
“She was crossing … and the bus was turning left onto Market from St. Mary’s,” Ramos said. “We know there was no one in the bus other than a driver and an employee of the charter bus.”
Authorities have not formerly identified the woman. A tweet from Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran (D3) offered condolences to the family of Omega McKinnon, who was a City accounting supervisor.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg and City Manager Erik Walsh, along with a few City Council members and City employees visited the scene Wednesday afternoon.
The mayor, City Council, and those gathered in Council chambers also bowed their heads for a moment of silence in honor of McKinnon Thursday morning.
A GoFundMe page posted on the City’s Department of Human Services Facebook page asks for donations to cover funeral costs and other unforeseen expenses. McKinnon joined the City’s Office of Budget and Management in 2016, according to the page, and moved to San Antonio from Greensboro, North Carolina with a 13-year-old son. She most recently worked as the department accounting supervisor for the Department of Human Services.
“Omega was a strong, independent, spiritual person and always quick to lend a helping hand,” GoFundMe campaign organizers wrote. “We will always remember her loving spirit and beautiful smile. May she rest in peace.”
Human Services Director Melody Woosley said in a statement that McKinnon was a hard worker and dedicated to her team.
“Omega was a bright, exuberant and thoughtful employee who exemplified giving back and making a difference in our community,” she said on the department’s Facebook page. “We extend our deepest sympathies to Omega’s family.”
Investigators are looking into who had right of way at the time of the accident, she said. Preliminary information provided by SAPD shows that witnesses to the accident said McKinnon had the right of way on the crosswalk. The charter bus did not see her crossing and made a left turn, hitting her.
The driver of the charter bus, which was from Regent Coach Line, has talked with detectives, Ramos added.
“Right now it’s preliminary information,” she said. “He’s cooperating. We believe this is a tragic accident.”
Attorney Mark Cooper, who is representing Regent Coach Line, said they are still investigating the incident but declined to comment further.
Ramos urged drivers and pedestrians to pay attention to their surroundings.
“It’s something we all do,” she said. “We cross the street, it’s downtown, you don’t expect it.”
She called the incident “very upsetting.”
Rivard Report Photo Editor Scott Ball and Senior Reporter Iris Dimmick contributed to this article.
Downtown…pedestrians are expected.
The city has purposely made downtown a more pedestrian environment by narrow streets, creating narrow turning lanes and widening sidewalks. All for tourists traffic but the city also encourages more apartments & office buildings downtown. Decisions for either pedestrian or urban dwellers conflict with each other. To compound the problem downtown is highest bus traffic area in the city.
As a San Antonio resident I favor creating a better vehicular traffic flow over a pedestrian scenic route. Of course the political response is going to be “we need to create a balance between the two”.
But nothing is farther from the truth. The city must choose a side before another pedestrian fatality!
You’re right. We shouldn’t seek a balance. Ban cars and tour busses and people won’t get hit by them.
there i fixed it for you.
This is where we look to our city leaders. An idea is to produce bolder crossing times – All traffic must stop – allow pedestrians the entire intersection to cross. Flashing yellow pedestrian lights. Anything that says I am here, I am crossing” Such a tragic loss of life.
Its hard to stomach the victim blaming by SAPD. If the bus had a green light then Omega had a walk signal. Pedestrian always gets the right of way.
Hello. My name is LaMonte and I am one of Omega’s cousins from North Carolina. I want to express my thanks to those who have posted about this tragic accident that took the life of my young, vibrant, intelligent, beautiful cousin. Her smile…her laughter…her very presence will be missed by all of us.
What I am confused about after hearing the intitial report through Google, is the question being posed is who had the right of way. I am 51 years old and I was born in New Haven, Connecticut and for as long as I can remember, the pedestrian…any pedestrian has the right of way. I thank God that the bus driver did stop and was able to answer questions for the authorities, but as tragic as this is, something needs to be done in this particular area. I have heard there have been a few near misses in this area and the city council MUST do something to prevent another near miss…or the countless loss of another life. There has to be fault somewhere and I look to the driver who is and supposed to have control over this huge vehicle. Omega wasn’t struck down by a car, a SUV, a pickup truck, or even a school bus. Her life ended at the hands of someone driving a CHARTER BUS. For those of you who don’t know what a charter bus is, it is a huge Greyhound bus. What was this driver doing at the time? Did this person get distracted? Was this person talking to the other person on the bus? I can only pray that the truth will come out for peace for my cousin’s son and her mom.
As a charter bus driver it is hard to see around the bus every second since it is so large. People need to understand that and keep clear of the bus so we can see! This is a very sad accident that could have been prevented by both parties!
Tragic!! I used to drive downtown every day. You HAVE to have your head on a swivel!!I hope the bus driver did have a green light, but I have had scary moments trying to take a “right on red”. Perhaps it shouldn’t be allowed downtown? My heart goes out to her family, especially her son. Tragic.
They were taking a Left onto St Mary’s from Market…….if you are familiar w/ downtown…..then when the light turned green to go for the bus….. it also goes to walk for the pedestrians going straight on Market.
Make all left turn lanes in high traffic areas like downtown and busy thoroughfares subject to lights and arrows that say left (or right) turn on arrow only, and don’t have walk signs and green lights for pedestrians at the same time at the same place. Have the police chief, mayor, and city council campaign and actively promote the policy that pedestrians have the right-of-way, and have the support and enforcement authority of the SAPD to back it up.
This is truly a tragic case. I would like to see vehicles over a certain size be banned from the downtown area (inside IH-35, IH-37 and I-10). Unless those large vehicles have specific business there, they should be out of the area. VIA is the worst, there are a flood of their buses downtown, often with only a small handful of passengers or none at all. These drivers have to drive aggressively to meet schedules and to move through traffic at all. I would like to see the smaller trolley buses used exclusively by VIA downtown. I have worked and driven in the downtown area for the past ten years. Construction at St. Mary’s and Commerce has made it a hazard for everyone in the area. My condolences to Omega’s family.
As a daily city employee driver downtown, I totally agree that the city should mandate and make it a left turn arrow only in the downtown area. With all the congestion of pedestrians and traffic it causes a distraction when both the pedestrians and vehicles have a green light. Yes, we understand that pedestrians have the right away; however, there is so much going on downtown that people often get distracted from all around their surroundings. My condolences to the family! As a mother of two teenagers, my heart is hurting for her 13 year son! God bless him….