Tragedy: Graduate crushed to death under London bus when driver lowered suspension

A graduate knocked down by a London bus was crushed to death when the driver lowered his suspension instead of raising it.

An inquest heard that David Wood, 22, is likely to have died when his skull was crushed rather than in the initial impact.
Driver Edward Jones-Morrison went to raise the bus but he panicked and lowered it 6cm instead.
A day earlier, David had secured his ‘dream job’ as a radiographer at St Bart’s Hospital.
He died two days later from crush injuries to his head.
A coroner found that instruction manuals for bus drivers didn’t make it clear that the switch to raise a bus can also lower it.

David stepped out in front of the bus at the junction of Clerkenwell and Farringdon Roads but despite applying the brakes, Mr Jones-Morrison was unable to avoid him.
He had driven buses for 13 years without an accident and he tried to use a ‘kneel down’ switch to free Mr Wood before resorting to a ‘ferry switch’ which he had never used before.
Luke Bellany who had jumped out of his van to help said Mr Wood had been ‘screaming for help’ and was conscious before the bus came down on him.

He said: ‘Everyone was shouting to raise the bus. It never went up, it went down. There was an eerie silence as if we all knew what had happened.’
Joshua Pearce added: ‘Someone was in the (driver’s) seat when the bus lowered down and then people shouted and it stopped lowering.’

A forensic pathologist Dr Simon Poole told the inquest Mr Wood’s cause of death was from ‘multiple injuries’ to his pelvis, chest and skull.
‘On the balance of probabilities’ the ‘crushing injuries’ to his skull caused Mr Wood’s death rather than the collision itself.’
Coroner Mary Hassell recorded a narrative verdict that Mr Wood was killed in a bus accident.
Mr Wood’s family, of Westmill, Hertfordshire , in a statement released at the time of his death said: ‘It was his dream job that he had wanted ever since he lost his Auntie Julie to leukaemia in 2010.
‘We would like to thank everyone involved in rescuing him.

‘Thanks to the public, especially the workmen trying to jack up the bus at the scene. ‘
Mr Wood’s family highlighted that he was an organ donor, and both his kidneys and his liver were donated.
The Coroner told his mum, dad and partner, who were present at the inquest: ‘While those who received his organs will never be able to thank you in person, they will benefit from that gesture for the rest of their lives.’