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MTA Driver Stopped for Less Than 5 Seconds in Fatal Hit-and-Run: Officials

By Camille Bautista | November 5, 2015 2:32pm
 Paul Roper is charged with leaving the scene of an accident in a Tuesday hit-and-run that killed 70-year-old Carol Bell on Fulton Street, authorities said.
Paul Roper is charged with leaving the scene of an accident in a Tuesday hit-and-run that killed 70-year-old Carol Bell on Fulton Street, authorities said.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

BROOKLYN — The MTA bus driver accused of fatally mowing down a 70-year-old woman while she crossed a Brooklyn street stopped for less than five seconds before driving off and leaving the victim in the road, prosecutors say.

Paul Roper, 48, was arraigned Wednesday on charges that included leaving the scene of an accident and failure to exercise due care in the death of Carol Bell, according to court records.

Bell was crossing at Fulton and Sackman streets in Ocean Hill early Tuesday morning when Roper turned east onto Fulton and struck her, police said.

Video obtained by NBC shows the bus turning at the intersection as the 70-year-old makes her way across the road.

The driver never exited the bus and drove off only seconds after running her over, swerving away from the scene, according to prosecutors.

Witnesses said Bell, who lived at a nearby shelter, was left in the street with her head and body “severely mangled.”

Roper, who was returning to a bus depot in East New York after finishing a shift, was suspended without pay and also had his license suspended, according to reports.  

Family members defended him, telling NBC he wouldn’t have driven off if he knew he hit someone.

Roper had been arrested three times over the past 10 years for incidents involving assault and drug possession, reports said.  

The MTA knew of the arrests but did not take any disciplinary action against the driver because they had no basis to act against him, spokeswoman Amanda Kwan told the New York Times.

Roper is being held on $25,000 bond or $20,000 cash bail and is due back in court on Nov. 9.