They were on a date night when a SEPTA bus driver ran over her husband, killing him. Now his widow is searching for answers.

Among the first things Kayla Spooner, 29, remembers seeing after she was hit by a Route 64 SEPTA bus were the bright yellow-gold contours of her husband’s Green Bay Packers winter hat on the crosswalk. Her 6-foot-2 husband, who had been next to her only a moment ago, was nowhere to be seen at the intersection of South Front Street and Washington Avenue that Jan. 3 evening.

A driver who had been waiting for the red light to turn would find Kayla Spooner’s 35-year-old husband, Michael Spooner, under the bus, believed to be unresponsive and without a pulse. Kayla Spooner wasted no time. She crawled underneath the bus, grabbed her husband’s shoulders, and instructed the Good Samaritan to help her with his legs to get her husband out. CPR-certified, she began administering aid until EMTs arrived and took over. He was declared dead at the scene.

“I knew he was gone but wanted to try my best to do what I could to try to help him,” she said.

Michael Spooner’s death was ruled an accident and a result of multiple blunt impact injuries, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

In the days that followed, Spooner has replayed the night of the crash in her head, wondering how a date night to see Nosferatu could be cut short so suddenly, just a three-minute walk from the couple’s home, while they had the right-of-way. She wants to know what led to the crash and how to prevent another death like her husband’s. She’d also like some clarity on the things she doesn’t remember so clearly, like what the bus driver was doing as she pulled her husband from the vehicle and performed CPR.

But she also wants the way government agencies communicate with families during times of tragedy to improve.

In addition to dealing with road rash and the pain from being struck — the lower right side of her body is imprinted with the bus bike rack — and planning a memorial service, Spooner said, she has had to fight for information about the crash and the subsequent investigation.

After she was separated from her husband’s body and rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for treatment, she was given a contact sheet for the medical examiner’s office to complete the identification process for her husband. Still, she was unable to get through to anyone at the medical examiner’s office much of the following day. It was only because a hospital social worker gave Spooner’s mother a more direct line that she was able to figure out where her husband’s body was and how to move forward.

Getting updates from Philadelphia police and SEPTA has not been easier, said Spooner, who has hired attorney Jordan Strokovsky to help her get answers. It wasn’t until Friday afternoon, a week after her husband’s death and after The Inquirer reached out for comment, that a SEPTA representative got in touch with Strokovsky.

“How many other people have gone through the same thing and how is that fair?” Kayla Spooner wondered.

Strokovsky said Michael Spooner’s death was a preventable tragedy and called on SEPTA to be more communicative and transparent.

“Kayla, Michael’s family, the public at large, they deserve answers,” he said.

SEPTA’s System Safety Division typically tries to make contact with people like Spooner at the scene of crashes. SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said the agency was not able to make that initial introduction because Spooner was already on her way to the hospital when agency investigators arrived.

“We are looking to put in place standard procedures for after-incident contacts, after-incident action plans as it relates to contacting people who are involved,” said Busch, adding such planning was underway before Michael Spooner’s death.

The agency began making efforts to get in touch with Spooner after The Inquirer asked for comment. As for the investigation, Philadelphia police take the lead. Police said they had no shareable updates as of Friday and any new information would be shared with Spooner’s attorney.

The Spooners would joke that no one should ever ask them for romantic advice because they “did everything wrong.” They met on a dating app in January 2021, had their first date at the Green Room in Fairmount, and were living together and engaged by Halloween. Kayla Spooner described an “instant connection” where the pair bonded over their love of animals — they both owned rescues. When they married in October 2022, they donated to 20 Philly charities instead of doing party favors.

Michael Spooner, a native of the United Kingdom, was obsessed with Liverpool soccer and converted his wife and many friends into fans. Still, he loved his adopted country where he spent more than a decade and was an avid (American) football watcher. When he let out a cheer at an Aaron Rodgers touchdown, he said he knew he was destined to be a Green Bay Packers fan. He was in an amateur pool league, played guitar, and enjoyed traveling. His wife said he packed her work lunch every day and drove her to work every morning. A giant glass jar is full of trinkets, receipts, and obscure mementos of dates and special occasions for the couple.

Kayla Spooner takes comfort in her husband’s memories and the two dogs and five cats they owned. They had just celebrated their second wedding anniversary and her sixth year being cancer-free — a “6″-shaped balloon still floats next to her dining room table. She wears his Liverpool jersey and keeps his Packers hat at arm’s length.

“I can’t help but feel very lucky that even though it was a short time I was able to experience a selfless love like that,” she said.

Spooner said she has been receiving messages from all over the world from people who knew her husband, including from a cat cafe in the area.

She said she wanted to retell the story of what happened that night to prevent another needless death, but she doesn’t want her husband to be reduced to his final moments.

A remembrance is planned for Michael Spooner on Monday night at Delaware Valley Cremation Center. In lieu of flowers, his family is asking people to make donations to Philly Rescue Angels.

His wife is asking attendees to wear “fun socks, funny shirts, any Liverpool or Packers gear, or anything that reminds them of Michael.”