Fired RTA driver seeks reinstatement

Rick Wagoner was fired after police say he fabricated shooting account.

Fired Regional Transportation Authority bus driver Rick Wagoner is appealing his termination through his union and is seeking to be reinstated to his job.

RTA Executive Director Mark Donaghy said Friday Wagoner has begun the appeals process.

Wagoner, a 10-year RTA employee, was fired in June following an internal RTA disciplinary hearing into his claims that three black youths shot him as he stood outside his RTA bus. According to Wagoner, the bus had lost power that February morning, and he was saved by a religious book he carried that stopped two bullets.

A Dayton Police investigation said the incident could not have occurred as Wagoner described.

Donaghy said Wagoner is “basically challenging the decision terminating employment. It’s in the process they have had the first step of the hearings,” he said.

In the series of steps, the appeal is made to RTA managers who can either affirm the decision or elect to change it, Donaghy said. Ultimately, the union can request arbitration.

Wagoner is represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1385.

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