ITHACA, N.Y. — The City of Ithaca has filed court paperwork saying it’s not responsible for the death of a Cornell staff member who died in January after being hit by a TCAT bus.
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Cornell employee Angela Stedwell, 55, was hit by a TCAT bus while crossing Jessup Road near Cornell’s A-Lot on Jan. 26. She was pronounced dead at the scene and no criminal charges were filed in the case
Since then, Stedwell’s family filed a lawsuit in June naming TCAT, the city, Tompkins County and an unnamed bus driver as defendants in the case.
On Oct. 21, the city responded to the lawsuit in a nine-page court document saying it is not responsible for the accident for the following reasons:
— Jessup Road is a private road maintained by Cornell University and the accident happened several hundred feet outside of the city limits.
— The city did not design, maintain or provide traffic controls where the accident happened.
— The TCAT bus involved in the accident was titled to Tompkins County and leased, registered, and insured for liability through TCAT. The company is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of buses, as well as training of drivers.
The city’s said its “only connection with the bus in question” is a transportation agreement that gives the city, county and Cornell “equitable interest in the locally-owned share in the capital assets of TCAT, Inc.,” meaning it takes part in the funding of the company.
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