Aug. 2–A devastating morning collision between a bus and a bicycle Monday killed a prominent Erie heart surgeon and left investigators combing for clues about its cause.
David Sanders — a prolific Saint Vincent Health Center surgeon known for his skill with a scalpel and a razor-sharp wit — died shortly after 6 a.m. Monday after his bicycle was hit by an Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority bus.
The accident, which happened on Sterrettania Road just north of West 38th Street, happened as the southbound bus was making a left turn into the parking lot of a Kwik Fill/Red Apple convenience store.
Sanders was riding northbound on Sterrettania Road in front of the entrance to the convenience store’s parking lot.
Millcreek police said the impact of the crash killed the 36-year-old surgeon almost instantly.
Sanders had left Saint Vincent in early July to accept a job at an Indiana hospital, said Joseph Cacchione, M.D., a Saint Vincent cardiologist and executive vice president. He had taken some time off before the move to enjoy the summer with his wife, Danielle, and their three daughters — Victoria, Olivia and Emma.
His sudden death stunned employees at both Saint Vincent and Consultants in Cardiovascular Diseases, the Erie medical practice Sanders had joined.
“Some people went home for the day, and we have a grief counselor available if anyone needs one,” said Cacchione, who is also a member of the medical practice.
The driver of the bus, David M. Justka, of East Fifth Street, is on paid leave pending the results of drug and alcohol screenings, EMTA operations manager Mike Will said.
Federal law requires the screenings for any accident involving injuries.
The results of the tests will likely be available by the end of the week.
Justka — who was described by Will as a veteran driver — was also behind the wheel of an EMTA bus that hit and injured a woman who was walking in a crosswalk in August 2000.
The 2000 accident, which took place at State Street and North Park Row, put the Erie woman in intensive care as a result of her injuries.
Will said Justka was “pretty shook up” about the accident, which was the first fatality involving an EMTA bus in six years.
Charlene Loomis, a 51-year-old Erie woman, died in February 1999 after she was hit by an EMTA bus at the intersection of State and 21st streets. The bus struck the woman during Monday morning rush hour after she had gotten off of another EMTA bus and was crossing State Street.
An EMTA bus was also involved in a two-vehicle accident that killed two people in 1988.
The cause of Monday’s crash, meanwhile, remains under investigation.
Erie County Deputy Coroner Dennis Suschek said Monday that Sanders died of blunt-force trauma, but said his office must first wait for the results of its autopsy to release a formal cause of death.
Though Sanders had only been in Erie for about three years, he was well known locally.
The Millcreek Township resident had performed stand-up comedy at Jr.’s Last Laugh Comedy Club and liked to joke with patients, families, staff — almost anyone within hearing distance, Cacchione said.
“We had a pep rally for the Heart Center in February, and David came out and performed a rap song he wrote,” Cacchione said.
“He even dressed up as a rapper, with a wig and the whole outfit.”
Sanders was also one of the state’s busiest heart surgeons, performing 243 open-heart and coronary-bypass heart surgeries in 2003, 10th most among Pennsylvania surgeons.
“Heart surgery isn’t an 8-to-5 job, and David would spend many weekends and holidays in the hospital,” Cacchione said. “He had a really good rapport with patients and their families.”
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