Tempe police are investigating the death of an unidentified man who allegedly was dragged and abandoned as he tried to exit a Valley Metro bus near the corner of Apache Boulevard and Price Road on Thursday morning.
The passenger, believed to be a white male in his late 50s, was snagged on a rolling tire and pulled along as he exited through the rear door of the bus, said Sgt. Dan Masters, a Tempe police spokesman.
Several other passengers who got off at the stop with the victim tried to tell the driver, Jon Lemons, 43, of Buckeye, that a passenger was trapped under the bus as he was driving away. But Lemons kept on going, police said.
"The driver said he got out, looked at the body, saw the body, radioed dispatch, got back in the bus and drove away," Masters said.
Lemons called dispatch and then proceeded to the Tempe maintenance yard to take his break, police said.
The victim was taken to Scottsdale Osborn Healthcare and pronounced dead at 9:20 a.m., shortly after the accident.
Because Lemons did not stay at the scene, Tempe police called Valley Metro to find out where the bus was headed.
Officers located and stopped the bus at a Valley Metro maintenance facility, just a few blocks from the scene, to examine possible evidence on the tires. They also administered a blood test, a standard procedure in all fatal accidents in Arizona.
The bus driver had no visible signs of impairment, officers on the scene said.
Reach the reporter at ian.schwartz@asu.edu.
