By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 6, 2007

Gregory Schoenborn went to court yesterday with poster-size pictures of his wife and her best friend, holding them up as he spoke during a hearing in which a bus driver convicted of killing the two women in an accident last winter was sentenced to a year in jail.

Schoenborn recalled how he had planned to pick up his wife, Martha, at the Pentagon Metro station and treat her to a Valentine's Day dinner. She didn't arrive, so he called her cellphone but got no answer.

Then he heard a radio report about an accident in the District involving two pedestrians. Fearing the worst, he went to George Washington University Hospital, where the women had been taken.

Martha Stringer Schoenborn, 59, died soon after the accident. Also killed was Sally Dean McGhee, 54, a friend and neighbor from Alexandria who worked with Schoenborn at the Federal Trade Commission.

"My whole world collapsed," Schoenborn said.

Victor Z. Kolako, 54, the Metrobus driver, pleaded guilty in September to two felony counts of negligent homicide. Yesterday, D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal E. Kravitz called the accident "a very sad and tragic case" and said that he wanted it to serve as a message to motorists, especially bus and truck drivers.

"These drivers need to understand that the rules of the road apply to them," Kravitz said. "They can't be bullies on the road simply because of their size."

Kolako was driving a Metrobus at 6:40 p.m. Feb. 14 when he came to Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Prosecutors said he failed to look when he abruptly turned left onto Pennsylvania in an effort to beat oncoming traffic. The women were in the crosswalk, and the "walk" signal was illuminated.

Kravitz could have sentenced Kolako, of Southeast Washington, to three years but took into account that he had no prior criminal offenses. Kolako's attorney argued that he could make a more significant impact by working with bus drivers on safe driving instead of being locked up.

Among several emotional statements at the sentencing, the victims' families said they hoped that Kolako would not be allowed to drive again. "And if he does, whenever he gets behind a wheel, he thinks of my mother and Sally," said Schoenborn's daughter, Kimberly Pifer, 36.

Schoenborn's husband has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Metro. He said he thought that Kolako's sentence was fair.

In highlighting the severity of the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Soroka said that only about 15 percent of D.C. traffic fatalities result in criminal prosecution.

This year, five pedestrians have been killed by Metrobuses. The most recent death occurred Monday, when a driver struck and killed a man crossing a street during the evening rush near the Twinbrook Metro station in Montgomery County.

Metro's general manager, John B. Catoe Jr., this year ordered annual safety training for all 2,400 Metrobus drivers.

Dressed in a black suit and tie, Kolako often sat at the defendant's table yesterday with his head bowed, eyes shut and fists clenched. When the judge asked Kolako whether he wanted to speak, he stood and turned to the families.

"I am very sorry. Sorry to the families. Sorry for the loss of their lives. Sorry to the public," he said.

Kravitz seemed to take pity on Kolako, who came to the United States more than a decade ago as a political refugee from Liberia, where he was a diplomat. Since the accident, Kolako has lost his job and his house. In October, his 17-year-old daughter, Victoria, died from a seizure.

But Kravitz said he recently viewed a recording of the accident, taken by a surveillance camera atop the National Archives building. Kolako "bolted into that crosswalk, endangering the passengers on the bus, the occupants in the oncoming cars and the lives of two innocent pedestrians," he said.

"During the past 10 months, Mr. Kolako has suffered greatly," the judge said. "But this case is not just about Victor Kolako. His conduct has had a devastating impact on the families of two victims."