Blair Vanacore, 69, of Jamison, was charged with accidents involving death, failing to render aid and careless driving, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Monday. Prosecutors allege Vanacore was behind the wheel of a DART bus on Aug. 12 when he struck Ronald Davenport outside an apartment complex at 1290 Almshouse Road in Doylestown around 9 p.m.

According to investigators, Vanacore failed to see Davenport walking in the roadway. A driver's-side tire struck Davenport, jolting the bus upward. The vehicle came to a brief stop before continuing forward and running over Davenport with a rear tire, dragging him several feet before he became dislodged. The bus finally stopped 25 to 35 feet away.

Prosecutors said Vanacore exited the bus and spoke with Davenport before calling 911, and even gathered the injured man's belongings for him. But he did not offer aid or wait for first responders, allegedly telling police he needed to return the bus to a storage depot by 10 p.m. Davenport was taken to Jefferson Abington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators reviewed 911 audio and interior bus video. Prosecutors said Vanacore told dispatchers that "someone fell in the parking lot" and did not mention that he had struck the man. A crash reconstruction team determined Davenport should have been in plain sight.

A spokesperson for the district attorney's office said Vanacore has been placed on leave by Bucks County Transport, the nonprofit that operates the DART buses. The office also noted that the company does not require its drivers to hold a commercial driver's license or have prior driving experience.

The charges against Vanacore were announced as the DA's office said it has expanded its investigation into a second fatal hit-and-run involving a DART bus. On Nov. 2, retired teacher Katherine Semisch, 67, was killed while crossing a circle in front of the Doylestown Library. The county coroner's office has ruled her death accidental.

Semisch was a retired educator and community leader. At a news conference Monday, District Attorney Joe Kahn memorialized both victims, referring to them by their familiar names.

"Ronald and Kitty are remembered not just for the lives that they lived and the lives they touched here in Bucks County for being exemplary pillars of our community, but they are joined by tragedy because we lost both of them, far too soon, under tragically similar circumstances, being outside in the drop off areas in institutions we know well," Kahn said.

Investigators said they will review Bucks County Transport's safety policies, driver protocols and hiring practices as part of the probe into the Nov. 2 crash. The DA's office declined to say whether the two cases are considered connected.

The charges and the expanded investigation raise pointed questions for a transit service that provides an affordable shuttle option for residents in and around Doylestown. The revelation that drivers are not required to have a commercial license or prior experience is likely to intensify scrutiny of the agency's oversight at a time when two families are grieving and a community is looking for answers about how such similar tragedies could occur in the same small borough within months of each other.