South Bend school bus kills city attorney’s wife in accident

SOUTH BEND – A South Bend school bus struck and killed the wife of the city attorney as she crossed a street Thursday morning, police said.

Kathleen Curtis, 57, wife of South Bend city attorney Chuck Leone, was in an area populated with pedestrians near the St. Joseph River when she tried to cross the street and was struck at about 7:50 a.m., South Bend Police Capt. Phil Trent said.

Ten pupils from the Tarkington Elementary School were on the bus. None of them were injured.

Social workers and school administrators later met with the students in the library for counseling, Superintendent James Kapsa said.

Trent said the bus driver, Deborah Urbanski, 55, was distraught after the accident.
Police are investigating the incident, but Trent said there was no suspected alcohol or
 drugs involved.

Kapsa said Urbanski, who has been a driver for the district for about 20 years, has been placed on leave pending the results of the investigation.