MCTS Driver Charged With Homicide for Hitting, Killing Pedestrian

MCTS bus hit by reckless driver at 35th and Capitol. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

A former Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus operator was charged with negligent homicide for hitting and killing a pedestrian after falling asleep at the wheel.

Late on the night of Dec. 25, Montrell Pharm, 52, was driving a bus down W. Villard Ave. when he struck two pedestrians, killing one. Footage from bus cameras revealed that Pharm’s eyes were shut at the time of the collision, and he had been nodding off at various points further down the road.

He is charged with one count of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle and one count of reckless driving causing great bodily harm. The homicide charge carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, the second charge up to six years and $10,000.

Pharm was fired by MCTS shortly after the incident, according to MCTS. It was the second crash in recent months he had caused. In October Pharm allegedly fell asleep at the wheel and ran into a parked car near the intersection of W. Burleigh St. and N. 76th St, according to MCTS records cited in the criminal complaint filed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

The fatal crash on Christmas Day came as Pharm was operating a bus on route 58, heading west along W. Villard Avenue. Near the 4700 block he struck two parked cars and two pedestrians, dragging one of them under the bus for nearly a block. Footage from security cameras inside and outside the bus revealed to Milwaukee Police Department investigators that Pharm’s eyes were closed when he hit the cars and the pedestrians.

The man who died was Robert Clemons, 79. He was there helping his grandsons fix a broken down truck one of them had been driving. He was walking up to the vehicle on the drivers side when he and one of his grandsons were struck by the bus.

“Pharm stated he feels ashamed by what happened, but that he was ‘looking straight ahead, and he had a clear path, and that he was good.’ The next thing he knew there was an impact,” according to the criminal complaint.

Pharm told investigators he was working a “split” the day of the incident. This refers to a split shift, which is a common schedule for MCTS drivers, whereby a single work day is split with a break in the middle. The bus operators’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU 998), has long criticized split shifts for lengthening the work day and exhausting drivers. Under the current contract, MCTS can hold drivers on a split shift for up to 14 hours.

Pharm told investigators he had been working 14-hour days in the days leading up to the incident. MCTS called Pharm’s statement to police “inaccurate,” in a statement to media after he was charged. “Leading up to his shift on December 25, Mr. Pharm had approximately nine hours of rest before working approximately 4-hours of voluntary overtime, followed by a 2-hour rest and he then worked part of his regularly scheduled shift,” the transit system said.

In MCTS parlance, nine-hours of rest means nine-hours off the clock. Pharm told investigators he had only slept approximately 6 hours the night before his shift on Dec. 25. He also told them he is pre-diabetic and “his body must have shut down,” according to the complaint. He said he does not have health insurance and had been unable to access the medication he needs for “some time.”

Following the previous crash in October, the transit system said Pharm was retrained, coached and issued a 3-day suspension. During the week prior to the fatal crash on Christmas Day, he had “attended a highly specialized, three-day workshop addressing emotional wellness, including the importance of sleep and showing up for work well-rested.”

The transit system expressed their condolences to the Clemons family in their statement and said it is not reflective of bus operators as a whole. The system said it continuously evaluates its safety management program, which includes trainings and evaluations, random drug testing and on-board technology designed to alert drivers to potential erratic driving.

“Because safety is our top priority, all bus operators are expected to report to work well-rested and fit for duty,” MCTS said. “If an operator experiences fatigue, they are trained and expected to report fatigue and take themselves off duty but unfortunately Mr. Pharm fell short of that expectation.”

ATU Local 998 is arguing MCTS had a role to play in the crash for failing to address the “poor working conditions, understaffing and forced overtime” that fatigues bus operators, the union said in a statement to Urban Milwaukee.

“No amount of MCTS ‘Emotional Wellness Training’ will make up for the fact that MCTS is complicit in the poor working conditions that exacerbate dangerous driver fatigue,” said Bruce Freeman, ATU Local 998 president, who replaced former president Donnell Shorter in 2024. Freeman likewise expressed sadness for the family of Clemons.

Many drivers pick up extra shifts to “make ends meet,” or to keep service running as the transit system is chronically short staffed, Freeman said.

“Transit workers will not be the scapegoats for MCTS’s failures to ensure safe working conditions and schedules,” Freeman said. “We call on MCTS to keep operators, passengers, and pedestrians safe.”