Boston parking officer is allegedly hit by MBTA bus when she tries to ticket bus driver

By Brian R. Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Boston parking enforcement officer was struck by an MBTA bus in Kenmore Square Thursday when the officer tried to ticket the bus driver for stopping in a no-standing zone, MBTA officials said.

The driver, Lataria Milton, 34, is facing charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and driving to endanger. She was arrested at the MBTA Transit Police headquarters and is to be arraigned Friday in Roxbury District Court.

The incident played out in the busy transportation hub around 8:15 a.m. when a Boston Transportation Department supervisor riding in a white city van spotted the MBTA bus idling in the left-turn lane at Kenmore Square station, the turn that leads from Commonwealth Avenue onto Brookline Avenue, officials said.

City officials said that the supervisor first tried to get the bus, which was empty except for the driver, to move along. After it did not, the supervisor decided to ticket the bus. She was hit by the bus when she was trying to affix the ticket to the windshield.

The supervisor was rushed to a Boston hospital with what officials are calling non-life-threatening injuries. Her name was not released.

Witnesses told police that after the bus hit the supervisor, the bus moved slowly forward and hit other vehicles.

The bus was not visibly damaged.

MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo said earlier Thursday that the BTD supervisor “was trying to issue a ticket to the bus operator for being in a no-standing zone. The driver tried to drive around her and that’s when the bus struck multiple vehicles.’’

Milton, the driver, was questioned by transit police while still on the bus and was then led away from the scene by an MBTA official so she could undergo drug and alcohol testing, which is mandatory for transportation workers involved in crashes.

Officials said Milton had 10 years of experience.

The investigation caused traffic headaches in the neighborhood, and police urged people to find alternate routes.