A former Metro bus driver charged in a crash that killed a Cincinnati maintenance worker was fired twice but reinstated both times, according to personnel records.
Kyle Taylor, 34, is charged in Hamilton County Municipal Court with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in connection with the death of 46-year-old Jonathan Young
, who was fatally injured when Taylor's bus crashed into a city truck on July 16 on the Norwood Lateral .Records obtained by The Enquirer show that Taylor had a history of disciplinary issues, including two incidents that led to his firing.
Metro hired Taylor as a bus operator in June 2018, but fired him more than a year later after he was absent without leave for nearly three months. Taylor applied for and was offered another
Metro driver job in August 2021 after a yearlong stint driving for the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky.
Less than a year later, Metro fired Taylor again after he was involved in a bus collision while using his cellphone, a violation of agency policy, according to the records. Emails included in Taylor's personnel file indicate he wasn't eligible for rehire, nonetheless, he was reinstated in September 2023.
Metro spokeswoman Brandy Jones said in a statement that Taylor returned to work after a union arbitration ruling in his favor. He completed mandatory return-to-work training, passed a drug screening and health exam, and gave confirmation of his valid commercial driver's license.
Records also show Taylor was suspended in February after video captured him "verbally and physically assaulting" a coworker.
Metro once again fired Taylor in August after his driving privileges were suspended by a court order stemming from the fatal crash in July, Jones said.
Cooper Elliott is representing the mother of Young's two children. The law firm previously secured a $10 million settlement last year with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority as part of a lawsuit filed by the family of Beverly Kinney, a retired schoolteacher killed by the driver of a Metro bus in early 2024.
“If the information regarding Kyle Taylor’s employment history is true, how many chances does a Metro driver get? We saw the same pattern in the Beverly Kinney case," Jeffrey Kenney, the family's attorney, said in a statement. "It is appalling that another family is now paying the price for a lesson SORTA didn’t learn."
"Jonathan Young’s children deserve answers, and we’re going to get them," Kenney added.
City worker couldn't escape trailer before impact, report says
According to a crash report, two Cincinnati maintenance trucks were doing work in the right lane of the Norwood Lateral before the collision. One truck pulled a trailer with three workers collecting advanced warning signs for a work zone. The other was driving directly behind, acting as a "safety barrier."
Taylor was driving a bus in the right lane and failed to notice the slow moving city crew in front of him, the report states. The bus struck the rear truck, pushing it into the workers' trailer. Two of the workers escaped the trailer before it was hit. Young didn't make it off in time.
Young was thrown from the trailer and run over by the maintenance truck behind it. He later died at the hospital as a result of the crash.
Young was hired by the city in 2002 and worked as a supervising traffic worker within the Department of Public Services. His aunt, Dinah Webster, previously said that Young pushed his coworkers off the trailer as the Metro bus approached.
Court records show Taylor was arrested a week after the crash. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in July, when his lawyer said Taylor is "devastated" about what happened.
The case had been scheduled for trial Oct. 26, but Taylor's attorney requested a continuance, saying the defense is still awaiting medical records.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Metro driver in crash that killed Cincinnati city worker was fired twice
