Bus Driver in Deadly 2019 Ottawa Crash Found Not Guilty on All Charges

A double-decker city bus that struck a transit shelter at the start of the afternoon rush hour on Friday, remains in place at Westboro Station in Ottawa, on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

OTTAWA—The lawyers for an Ottawa bus driver charged in connection with a deadly crash in 2019 say their client’s acquittal today has been a long time coming.

Aissatou Diallo was found not guilty on all charges in an Ottawa court today—three counts of dangerous driving causing death and 35 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The charges stemmed from a deadly crash in January 2019 when the OC Transpo double-decker bus that Diallo was driving slammed into a pedestrian platform overhang during rush hour.

Three people were killed and dozens of others were severely injured.

In a statement, Diallo’s lawyers Solomon Friedman and Fady Mansour say Ontario Court Justice Matthew Webber’s verdict confirms Diallo is “an innocent woman ... put in an awful position by circumstances far beyond her control.”

The lawyers add that while they and their client acknowledge the tragedy continues to reverberate, the verdict confirms the crash was “an accident, not a criminal act.”