Bus driver who struck, killed woman Saturday ‘absolutely traumatized’

The 22-year-old man who was driving the bus that hopped the curb just west of the Strip early Saturday and slammed into a bus shelter, striking and killing a 39-year-old woman is "absolutely traumatized," his sister said Monday afternoon.

"Every time he blinks his eyes he sees that woman," Du'Juana Nichols said.

The sun hadn't risen yet when Jooyoung Do was walking east on Tropicana Avenue at 5:05 a.m. She had just passed Polaris Avenue and was heading toward Dean Martin Drive when Jamal Nichols veered the Regional Transportation Commission bus off the road and onto the sidewalk "for unknown reasons," Las Vegas police said.

On impact, the shelter was forced up and into the bus's right windshield, impaling the glass next to Nichols. Below the pierced portion of windshield, a large spiderweb crack could be seen, marking the spot where the bus plowed into Do's back. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Efforts to reach Do's family in South Korea were unsuccessful Monday night.

Nichols wasn't taken into custody after the crash, but that doesn't mean he won't face charges, said Officer Laura Meltzer, a Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman. The answer won't come until the investigation is complete, which includes combing through "everything in the area that may have had an impact on what occurred," she said.

Nine other people were on the bus during the crash but were not injured, said Bill Marion, spokesman of Keolis Transit America, the company that contracts bus drivers for RTC in the southern valley. He would not comment further about the crash but said Keolis Transit was cooperating with police.

Nichols' sister dismissed rumors Nichols fell asleep at the wheel but couldn't explain what happened in the moments that led up to the crash. All she knew is what happened in the moments after, when her little brother called her — frantic and in shock — and told her what happened.

"I was there in 20 minutes," she said. "He is an adult. He is 22. But he is my baby brother."

Nichols had been working with Keolis Transit since July, she said. The full-time position allowed him to provide for himself and his family like "he always has," she said. Court records also show Nichols has a nearly clean slate. His only infraction: a parking ticket from 2012.

"This was his first major accident in his whole life, his first major anything," she said. "He's never been in trouble, he's never been arrested, he doesn't drink or do drugs — nothing."

In the cold air around sunset Monday, in front of the family's small single-story home, her eyes welled when she mentioned the woman. "It's tragic," she repeated, over and over.

"We just keep praying," she said. "We keep praying for both families. Mine, and the lady who lost her life."

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or at 702-387-5290. Find her on Twitter: @rachelacrosby