A jury ruled the death of Carolyn Jeffers, a doctoral student at the University who was struck by a bus on Oct. 27, an accident after an inquest conducted by the Champaign County Coroner.

An investigation completed by University Police also concluded the death was an accident.

Jeffers was walking north after exiting Madigan Lab on Gregory Drive prior to the accident, said detective Aaron Landers of the University Police during the inquest. She stopped for an approaching car that was moving east on Gregory Drive before entering the crosswalk across the street when the driver motioned her across, he said.

After Jeffers walked past the front of the car, Landers said the car turned left and proceeded north on Goodwin Avenue. Before making it completely across, a 26 Pack Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (MTD) bus that had been driving south on Goodwin Avenue turned right onto Gregory Drive and struck Jeffers with the front right section of the bus before she was apparently dragged underneath the bus, he said.

A video camera on the bus captured the events that led up to the accident, Landers said. Though several bus passengers heard the accident, he said none saw what happened.

The bus driver told police he did not see Jeffers as she was crossing, Landers said. The driver also told police that he was concentrating on the people entering and leaving the bus to make sure they were not in the crosswalk.

The bus driver was issued a ticket for “failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk,” said Krystal Fitzpatrick, assistant director of the division of public safety.

Police were unable to determine the speed of the bus at the time of the impact, though Landers said it was coming out of a stop.

A toxicology report on the bus driver has not come back from the lab, but there were no indications of drugs or alcohol use involved, Landers said.

Landers said that after speaking with Jeffers’ boyfriend, the official report determined it was likely she was walking home from school at the time, he said.

Toxicology reports on Jeffers have come back negative, Landers said.

The ruling at an inquest is not relevant to any criminal or civil trials that may arise based on the accident, said Champaign County deputy coroner Steve Elkins.

MTD is conducting an internal investigation in the incident, said Tom Costello, assistant director for MTD. He said he was not sure when it would be completed.

Costello said in all cases it is MTD policy to never assume a driver is guilty just because they received a ticket.

“It was a sad and unfortunate incident,” Costello said. “We just want to reiterate that people need to be mindful … of safety issues on campus.”