Judge To Rule Thursday In Trial Of 2 Transit Workers

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A judge will rule Thursday in the trial of two transit workers accused of having driven empty buses so recklessly side-by-side that they scraped together just before one crashed.

Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning heard closing arguments Tuesday in the reckless endangerment trial of 47-year-old Juliann Maier and 57-year-old Thomas Frauens.

Prosecutors allege that the two fired Port Authority drivers were "racing" 65 mph in a 55 mph zone on Interstate 279 before Maier's bus went down an embankment in September 2014.

Maier's attorney, Joel Sansone, said his client was a cautious driver whose bus had a mechanical failure. Frauens also faces a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, but his attorney, Bruce Carsia, argued that his client never knew that the buses had collided.

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