More than two years after fatally striking a pedestrian, former TTC driver Magdalene Angelidis has been found not guilty of careless driving and failing to stop at a red light.

“This is devastating,” the victim’s husband, Paul Martella, said outside of the Toronto West Court on Friday. Wendy Martella, 47, was hit by the TTC bus near Sinnott Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E. on the afternoon of Jan. 23, 2013. She died a day later from her injuries.

““There’s no justice… But justice can be found in many places besides courtrooms.”

Jan. 23, 2013 was a bright and bitterly cold day. Angelidis, who had worked for the TTC since 2010, was driving the 34C Eglinton East bus that afternoon. Travelling eastbound, Angelidis stopped to pick up a lone passenger at the southwest corner of Sinnott Rd. and Eglinton Ave. E. shortly before 4 p.m. Once the doors were closed, she began entering the intersection on a green light. Angelidis then saw a man weaving through traffic in her rearview mirror. When the man disappeared from sight, Angelidis stopped the bus, its front edged slightly into the intersection. Angelidis maintains that she stopped because she was concerned for the man’s safety. When she saw the man again in her sideview mirror, she opened the door, letting him onboard. The court heard that Angelidis chastised him for risking his life by jaywalking.

Angelidis maintained that she could not see the traffic light from where she had stopped; the prosecution asserted that the light was red. Believing, however, that the light was still green, Angelidis then continued through the intersection that Wendy Martella was just beginning to cross. Seeing Martella, Angelidis swerved the bus to the left, the court heard — but it was too little too late. One witness recalled hearing a thud. The bus had been travelling at just under 20 km/h.

“The court recognizes that this has been a long and difficult process for both sides,” Justice of the Peace Lurdes M. Cruz said as she began reading her judgment. The trial, which began in September and concluded on Dec. 2, heard from three civilian witnesses who were at the scene as well as two expert witnesses — one for the defence, and one for the prosecution. Paul Martella attended throughout with a host of family and friends wearing black T-shirts with photos of Wendy and the words “TTC: Not always the better way” written in pink block letters. The couple had been together for 18 years.

In her judgement, Cruz stated that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the light had turned red when Angelidis resumed driving through the intersection. Cruz also stated that there was no evidence to show that Angelidis was a careless driver. One should not focus on the consequence of the driving, Cruz said, but the driving itself.

Wearing a white parka, Angelidis was somber while the judgment was being read. When she was declared not guilty, a slight smile etched its way across her face as tears welled in her eyes. Paul Martella, however, shook his head and closed his eyes.

Angelidis made a swift exit as soon as the judge left the courtroom. Martella and his supporters remained seated.

“Standing up would be a sign of respect for the judge and this justice system,” an emotional Martella said outside the courtroom where his family and friends embraced and wept.

Martella has launched a $3.2 million civil lawsuit against Angelidis and the TTC. Discovery for the civil trial, Martella says, should start in April. The crown prosecutor, Derek Knipe, still has not decided whether or not to appeal Cruz’s decision.

The TTC refused to comment on the matter.

“We’re not commenting on the verdict,” TTC spokesperson Nicole Ghanie said on Friday. “[Angelidis] is not employed by the TTC anymore.”

Ghanie declined to say when Angelidis stopped working at the TTC and under what terms she left.

“That was a very careful, thoughtful judgment,” Angelidis’ lawyer, Susan Chapman, said on Friday. “The prosecution didn’t have a real case against her.”

Chapman says that Angelidis has suffered extreme stress as a result of the accident.

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“It was a very tragic, sad accident, but in the end it was an accident,” Chapman said. “Not every tragedy has a villain.”

Such words, however, will do little to console Paul Martella.

“She gets to go on with her life now: no penalty, no charge,” he said of Angelidis. “And yet I now will have to go on for the rest of my life with all I planned for and wished for never to be realized again.”