Kimberly Greer: Manhattan law clerk and Fordham law graduate struck and killed by charter bus a month after marrying newlywed husband.
A law clerk for a judge has died after being struck and killed by a charter bus in Manhattan– a month after marrying a fellow Fordham law graduate.
Kimberly Rae Greer, 28, was struck and killed on Thursday in lower Manhattan at the intersection of Centre Street and Leonard Street, shortly after leaving work. The New York Daily News reported the woman being knocked to the pavement by the charter bus near the courthouse where she worked as a clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker.
The tragedy happened only a month after the Melville, Long Island native marrying fellow graduate, Michael Eric Singer, 27. The couple were married after being three years together.
Responding to the tragedy, Judge Katharine Parker said Greer had distinguished herself ‘through her keen analytical skills and fluent writing’.
‘We are devastated by this tragedy,’ Parker said in a statement. ‘Kimberly was a vibrant young woman with an excellent legal mind.’
The judge called Greer ‘one of the most kind and generous persons I know, quick to lend a hand to colleagues, bake cookies for interns, and mentor students.’
Kimberly Greer death: Arrested bus driver had no prior issues
Bus driver Xi Chen, 50, awaited arraignment after being arrested on misdemeanor traffic charges of failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care in Thursday’s collision.
‘He was panicked,’ passenger Demetric Pringle told NBC 4 New York about Chen. ‘”Said ‘I need 911.”‘
The passengers were at first unaware that a woman lay pinned under the rear of the bus.
Dian Jiang, owner of NYC Style Limo, told the New York Post that he was devastated that one of his company’s buses was involved in a fatal accident.
‘It’s just very hard to grasp now,’ Jiang told the tabloid. ‘We feel really bad for (the victim).’
Jiang said Chen, who had worked for the company since July 2016, hadn’t had any problems at the company before and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the accident occurred.
‘When the bus is making a legal [left] hand turn, it doesn’t usually clip people,’ Jiang said. ‘I’m not putting fault on the pedestrian or the bus driver. We’re not really sure right now.’
Kimberly Greer remembered as questions over charter bus loom:
Following the incident, a bus company employee and passengers revealed despite the bus using the ‘NYC Style Limo’ logo on both sides of the bus- the vehicle was actually operated by Wanda Coach.
Of disconcert, Wanda Coach reportedly lacked a proper federal license in a 2017 report by the state Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference which has since been dissolved.
Besides working as a clerk, Greer who had graduated cum laude from Fordham Law School in May 2016 — where she had met her husband, also taught at the law school as an adjunct professor teaching advanced appellate advocacy.
Matthew Diller, dean at Fordham Law School, said the school was ‘shocked and deeply saddened.’
‘She was an incredible, young lawyer who accomplished so much in so little time,’ Diller said in a statement.
Kimi Greer was a true light in the world, radiant and earnest and enthusiastic and so hard-working, and her death is a total shock. Horrible. She was my student with her future husband in her first semester at Fordham, and the heart of her class, a joy. https://t.co/H4csVaNVvg
— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) December 22, 2018