City H.R. “shredded” records on bus driver that killed pedestrian
Attorneys for the family of a man killed by a city of Columbia bus claim the human resources department “shredded” records related to the driver.
ABC 17 News first reported the claims made in court last Friday. The family of David Birkenbach said the city destroyed interview notes and drug screening results from Hamis Mukiwa, the bus driver who hit and killed Birkenbach in 2016.
William Rotts, attorney for the Birkenbachs, said that a June 2018 deposition with human resources specialist Roxanne Combs revealed that the paperwork was destroyed, despite a court order in 2016 calling for the city to preserve the evidence. Combs did not bring the paperwork requested, according to the court filing, and explained that they had been destroyed.
The city’s own records retention policy would require them to hold on to those documents for at least 10 years. The city follows the same rules as the Missouri Secretary of State Office’s schedule on retaining public records. The state calls for agencies to hang onto a master personnel file for 10 years following a worker’s departure. The agency retains the employment records for one year following the employee leaving, then sends the file to the “employment officer” for a review.
City officials did not comment on the court filings due to the pending lawsuit.
A hearing on the Birkenbach’s motions for sanctions against the city is set for Feb. 19.
Rotts also argued that the city overlooked parts of Mukiwa’s application to drive buses for the city. Rotts wrote that Mukiwa lied about his driving work history. While Mukiwa claimed to the city that he worked for more than a year as a FedEx driver in Columbia, Rotts said that Mukiwa admitted in a deposition to have only worked for FedEx for a few days in Nebraska.
Rotts said had the city done a better job of following federal guidelines in background checks, “Mukiwa would never have been hired and retained as a driver and David Birkenbach would not have been killed.”
Mukiwa pleaded guilty in 2017 to careless and imprudent driving, a misdemeanor. Judge Kim Shaw sentenced him to two years of probation and 50 hours of community service.
