DTA bus driver pleads guilty to charges for fatal incident

DULUTH, MN. (KBJR 6) -- A former DTA driver pleaded guilty Monday, after a crash that killed a pedestrian.

That happened last fall in the Miller Hill Mall parking lot.

Crystal Ball pleaded guilty to a criminal vehicular homicide charge.

She admitted to the judge she was not paying attention to her blind spots.

On September 10th, 2021, Ball was working an overtime shift driving on her usual bus route.

She said she was ahead of schedule, so she pulled her bus up along the sidewalk near the Dick’s Sporting Goods at the Miller Hill Mall.

Ball said she waved at a man crossing the intersection.

She thought she saw him fully cross, looked to her left, and pulled away from the curb.

Next, she described feeling a bump and then freezing.

Monday in court when her attorney asked her what that bump was, she cried, “a man.”

That man, 64-year-old David Weston, ended up dying at the scene.

Ball will now meet with a probation officer to undergo a pre-sentence investigation.

The judge scheduled the sentencing date for July 11, 2022.