Denver Police say 29-year-old Carla Miranda and 29-year-old Dustin Peletier were killed in a crash at E. 8th Avenue and Lincoln Street when an RTD bus ran a red light and slammed into two other vehicles just before 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Police say Miranda, a Denver resident, was the passenger inside a 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit with Peletier who was driving. Miranda's relationship to Peletier, who died Saturday, has not yet been released.
Joseph Garrick, a friend of Peletier, says his friend "was a beautiful, kind, creative, fun, and conscious individual, there aren't too many like him."
According to a friend, Miranda was an artist. She graduated from the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design with a BFA in Arts & Sculpture. The friend said she minored in animation.
"She wanted to be an animator," the friend, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
Miranda moved to Denver from Plano, Texas. Her family still resides there.
She has three sisters. One of her sisters lives in Wyoming and was working toward completing her PhD.
"She was a great, energetic person," the friend said.
The bus driver was taken to a local hospital, but has not been charged in the crash. The bus driver's name has not been released. Police say the driver of the bus is in serious condition.
According to police, the driver of a 1996 Ford pickup involved in the crash is also in serious condition. Four other people involved in the crash remain in serious condition, police say.
RTD spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas said the bus driver is a contract worker for Chicago-based Veolia, which has a dispatch office in Englewood.
Tonilas said the driver is insured by Veolia, and she would have gone through the same training and drug testing required of RTD employees.
A Veolia dispatcher told 9NEWS that the fatal accident did not rise to the level that required notifying a manager to respond to media inquiries. After a 9NEWS report including those comments was aired, Veolia spokeswoman Valerie Michael called to say the company is cooperating with investigators.
Michael would not discuss the driver involved or the company's protocols after such an incident.
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