Man Dies After Being Struck by 16th Street Mall Bus in Downtown Denver

The pedestrian who was hit by a bus in downtown Denver last week died of his injuries, his family has confirmed.

Jard Davis, 56, was struck by an RTD MallRide at noon on Thursday, March 13, near the intersection of 17th and Champa streets in the Central Business District neighborhood. Davis was a father who worked at a downtown software company, five blocks from the site of the fatal collision.

Davis died the same day he was struck by the bus, according to the Office of the Medical Examiner, which was notified of his death at 6:42 p.m. on Thursday. The cause and manner of death are under investigation.

The Denver Police Department initially said the pedestrian suffered serious injuries but was alive when transported to the hospital on Thursday afternoon. A police spokesperson declined to provide any update on Davis's condition on Friday, but said he was still alive. Police did not respond to inquiries on Monday or Tuesday.

Police also failed to mention that the collision involved a city bus. In a social media announcement, the police department said the crash occurred between "a motorist and a pedestrian."

Photos of the scene show that it was a MallRide bus, which provides free transport up and down the 16th Street Mall. Due to ongoing construction on the mall, the MallRide buses have detoured onto 15th and 17th streets, the latter of which is where Davis was hit.

RTD confirmed that their bus was involved in the collision, but declined to provide details about what led to the crash or whether an internal investigation is being conducted.

"At this time, RTD has no new information about last week's incident," spokesperson Pauline Haberman says. "With trains and buses always on the move across the entire service area, it is important for customers and the public to be aware of their surroundings, follow all safety-related instructions, and adhere to posted signs, lights, and bells."

A woman who witnessed the crash says the bus drove through a green light and struck Davis just past the intersection as he tried to cross the street. The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, says other people at the scene claimed Davis was looking at his phone and did not see the bus coming, though she did not see that for herself.

She says bystanders acted quickly to help Davis but claims emergency responders did not arrive at the scene for seven minutes, leaving witnesses scrambling to tend to his injuries.

"He was completely unresponsive," she says. "I heard one of the men tending to him say, 'I can't give him mouth-to-mouth, there's blood coming out of his mouth.'"

"Two men started to roll him onto his side and then people started screaming 'don't touch him, don't touch him, he has a head injury,'" she continues. "I can't get the image out of my head. It was horrendous."

A firetruck was the first to make it to the scene, according to the witness, but based on text messages she sent her husband during the incident, it took them seven minutes to arrive. The nearest fire station is just four blocks away from the scene of the accident.

"I was really shocked at how slow the response was," the witness says.

The Denver Department of Public Safety later reached out to clarify that emergency medical services data shows that a DFD truck arrived on the scene within 3 minutes, 35 seconds after the initial 911 cqll, and a paramedic arrived in under four minutes.

Less than three-fourths of calls made to Denver's 911 system are answered within nationally accepted response times, according to a recent audit. The audit also found that Denver Fire responds to 90 percent of calls within ten minutes and seven seconds — four minutes longer than the department’s goal of six minutes and thirty seconds.

The witness claims that police did not attempt to speak to bystanders who saw the collision occur. She says after Davis was taken away in an ambulance, she waited for around five minutes in case officers needed to talk to her. When she left, all of the other witnesses she saw tend to Davis had already dispersed, she claims.

This article was updated on March 21 to include information from the Denver Department of Public Safety.