A tour bus driver who struck and killed two women in a crosswalk at Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW was sentenced to six months in prison, the Washington Post reports.

The judge sentenced Gerard D. James of Baltimore to four years, in line with the plea agreement James signed in September 2019. But because of his “obvious remorse and contrition” about the incident, Judge Danya Dayson suspended all but six months of the sentence, per the Post.

James was driving an Eyre Bus Company tour bus in December 2018 when he made an illegal left turn at Seventh and Pennsylvania NW, according to prosecutors’ account. As he turned onto Pennsylvania Avenue NW, James hit Monica Carlson, 61, and her mother, Cora Adams, 85, who had just stepped onto the crosswalk.

Carlson was the mayor of Skagway, Alaska, and had come to visit D.C. with her mother during the Christmas season. The women had a green “walk” signal to step into the crosswalk, while James ignored a red stoplight.

Court filings indicated that, as James made that left turn, video from inside the bus showed him reaching for his ringing cellphone, picking it up with his left hand, and transferring it to his right. Prosecutors suggested that James had been distracted by the phone. James’ defense played video showing that the driver began turning before his phone started ringing, and that he reached for it to silence it, not to answer it, according to the Post.

James was allowed to return home after his hearing, but he must turn himself back in to authorities on March 19, the outlet reports. He has tattooed the names of the victims on his chest, and told the court that he thinks about the two women all the time, per the Post.

“I am so sorry. I made a tragic mistake that night,” James said, according to the outlet. “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about them.”

Previously:
Two Pedestrians Struck And Killed By Driver Of Tour Bus In Downtown
Tour Bus Driver Pleads Guilty To Killing Two Women In December Crash