Man pleads guilty to killing woman, slamming into Seattle metro bus while high
Aug 6, 2024, 6:22 PM | Updated: 6:24 pm
The man who caused a deadly Belltown metro bus crash last November has pled guilty.
A couple of weeks after the crash, 32-year-old Adam Rueben pled not guilty. However, this week, according to KOMO News, Rueben pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and driving without a license. He also admitted he was high on fentanyl and used a cocaine metabolite prior to the crash.
The woman killed in the crash was 28-year-old Amanda Schneider, reported KING 5. Schneider was walking on a sidewalk, in Belltown, when Ruben crashed the Prius he was driving into a metro bus, subsequently hitting Schneider, throwing her into a building and immediately killing her.
“She was my only daughter,” Karl Schneider, Amanda Schneider’s father, told KIRO 7 in November. “My only child. We all want justice, but justice isn’t going to change what happened.”
As for the people aboard the bus, 13 were injured.
More details: New footage shows ‘senseless’ bus crash that killed young woman in Belltown
Rueben was found unconscious in the Prius and was taken to Harborview Medical Center. He was discharged on November 17 and booked into King County Jail, according to KING 5.
KOMO News cited police reports that said Abelson was driving at “highway speeds” on 5th Avenue, which is a 25 mph zone, and ran a red light at Battery Street before colliding with the bus. Investigators also found drug paraphrenia in the Prius at the time of the crash.
Man who caused Belltown metro bus crash has lengthy record
Court records, according to KOMO News, show Abelson has a lengthy criminal record including more than 50 warrants and convictions for criminal traffic offenses, theft and eluding police.
Abelson will face just over 13 years in prison and his official sentencing date is scheduled for September 9, reported KING 5.
Contributing: KIRO 7
Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.
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