Asheville bus driver involved in 5 wrecks since 2007

ASHEVILLE — The city bus driver who blacked out behind the wheel before hitting a woman on the sidewalk had been involved in four accidents since 2007, according to police wreck reports.

Ralph Dowdle, 52, of Arden, wasn't ticketed in any of the accidents, including the accident Saturday on College Street.

A police accident investigator said an undiagnosed medical condition caused Dowdle to lose consciousness. His bus damaged three businesses and left 55-year-old Susan Jane Zakanycz with serious injuries.

His company, Transit Management of Asheville, declined to discuss any prior wrecks, citing a personnel policy.

In April 2009, a car ran a stop sign at Hudson and State streets and pulled in front of his bus, according to a witness's statement to police. A month before that, a car sideswiped his bus on Hendersonville Road near All Souls Crescent.

In 2008, his bus sideswiped a car on Michigan Avenue near Alabama Avenue. The car's driver had parked on the roadside across from another to check her mail and the bus hit her car while trying to fit between the two cars.

The year before that, a drunken pedestrian stumbled in front of his bus on NC 81. The pedestrian wasn't hurt but was arrested for being intoxicated in public.

Dowdle had a valid passenger rated commercial driver license on Saturday. The state doesn't typically revoke a commercial driver license for minor wrecks.