Lawsuit: Bus Driver Ran Over Woman, Then Walked into Wendy’s

SAN ANGELO, TX — A woman has sued a commercial bus driver and his employer, alleging he ran over her legs with a 54,000-pound bus outside a Wendy’s restaurant in March 2022, according to a civil petition filed in Tom Green County District Court. 

Kila-Ann Cage filed the lawsuit Feb. 29 against Jerry B. Mendoza and Star Shuttle Inc. in the 391st Judicial District Court. She seeks more than $1 million in damages for alleged negligence and gross negligence, including claims of permanent disability, medical expenses, pain and mental anguish. 

According to the petition, Cage was sitting in the grass near the curb and mailbox area at the Wendy’s at 2812 N. Bryant Blvd. around 11:54 a.m. on March 12, 2022, using her phone to order food for curbside pickup. Mendoza, driving a 2017 white Les Autobus MCI bus owned and operated by Star Shuttle and carrying at least 11 passengers, turned from northbound U.S. 87 into the parking lot, drove onto the curb and ran over both of her lower legs and feet, the filing states. 

The petition alleges Mendoza then walked into the restaurant, leaving Cage on the ground. She was taken by emergency medical services to Shannon Medical Center for treatment and surgery. The lawsuit claims Mendoza saw her on the curb before the incident and quotes statements he allegedly made to San Angelo police, including “I saw her on the curb” and remarked that she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Cage’s petition asserts claims of negligence and gross negligence against Mendoza, along with respondeat superior, negligent entrustment, and negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention against Star Shuttle. 

In an answer filed April 15, Mendoza and Star Shuttle generally denied the allegations and demanded strict proof. They asserted that any injuries were caused solely by Cage’s own negligence, that the incident was an unavoidable accident or the result of a new and independent cause, and that Cage failed to mitigate damages. The defendants stipulated that Mendoza was a Star Shuttle employee acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time and requested that any gross negligence claims be bifurcated for a separate phase of trial. 

A motion hearing is set for 2 p.m. Aug. 11, 2026, before Judge Brad Goodwin on a motion to quash subpoenas duces tecum. A civil pretrial is scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 31, 2026, and a jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 21, 2026, both also before Judge Goodwin.