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Police: NYC Bus Driver Attacked By Teen Passenger Carrying Dog

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Police say a city bus driver was attacked by a passenger on Fordham Road during the evening commute on June 21, 2011 (credit: CBS 2)

Police say a city bus driver was attacked by a passenger on Fordham Road during the evening commute on June 21, 2011 (credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A vicious assault on a New York City bus driver began with an argument over a small dog.

Police said the suspect, a teenaged girl, flew into a rage Tuesday night when her pet was barred from the bus at a stop in the Fordham section of the Bronx, reports CBS 2’s Dave Carlin.

“She dragged me from my hair, my nose is broken, and my eyes – I can’t even see right,” bus driver Marlene Bien-Aime said.

Battered and bruised, Bien-Aime relived the terrifying moments when she was pulled from behind the wheel of her bus and pummeled so viciously that she wound up in the hospital.

“I was caught by surprise,” she said.

Bien-Aime said that at first, she thought nothing of the 17-year-old suspect holding a tiny dog, described as a Chihuahua, inside her jacket. When she told the girl that the dog would not be allowed on the bus without a carrier or cage, the suspect allegedly flew into a rage.

“After she hit me in the eye, I took the seatbelt off and she’s still coming at me,” Bien-Aime said.

After she was pulled down the stairs and onto the pavement, the beating continued.

“She was on top of me, hitting me in the head, hitting me over and over,” Bien-Aime said.

Steangeli Medina, 17, was charged with assault, menacing and harassment. There was no answer at the Medina family’s home on Wednesday – just the sounds of a dog barking inside the apartment.

“People don’t understand we work with this everyday,” Bien-Aime said. “It’s a rough job, trust me.”

Bus drivers told CBS 2 that passengers routinely argue with them or even spit on them, and that there is very little they can do about it.

“You’re totally defenseless if somebody attacks you from behind,” Frank Austin said.

Frank Austin, with Transport Workers Union Local 100, said the union – which represents some 15,000 City bus drivers – wants new protective barriers in every bus, encasing the drivers so that the next case of rider rage doesn’t go this far.

Union leaders said they have been fighting for the driver barriers, or shields, since 2000, when driver Edwin Thomas of Brooklyn was stabbed to death by a rider who tried to beat a fare.

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  • Very conservative

    The teen needs to be handcuffed to a chair, and then repeatedly whipped by a belt to the buttocks. And if that doesn’t work, then she needs to be shot and not in the same area. Will this ever happen? Of course not because this country is too DAMN LIBERAL.

    Some people are just out of control, and will always be until they are put in their place.

    • Betsie

      …like….you?

    • Babygirl51

      you sound like a SAND NI##ER from the middle east that’s not how it’s done here in the USA and also the driver is rude and had a ass beating coming to her. I don’t know why the driver had a probleM with it 85% of the MTA workers have HIV check the records from the BUS to the TRAIN

      • golferboy

        I’m glad I don’t live in a Black area…

  • Rob

    Should get the 7 years that the signs state…Anything less would be the real crime.

  • kendra

    u know that don,t make any kind of sense to me at all cause the bus driver told her she can,t be on the bus without the dog in a caddie or a bag she was just doing her job and if something would have happened to that dog then the girl would have been very upset with the bus driver and tried to sue the mta when she was in the wrong for butting her hands on some1.and what would she have done if her dog would have tried to bit someone or got stepped on or got scared and run off the bus caiuse animals do get scared sometimes from being around so many people uno.

  • Ron

    Now if this I called this girl an animal I’ll be wrong?

  • The Facts

    There is a sign in every bus warning that assault on on driver carries a felony conviction and a 7 year prison sentence. Perhaps this ghetto genius did not read or more likely could not read the sign. She probably did not care and would have done it anyway.

  • Babygirl51

    I grew up down the shore with a big back yard for the Dogs to runs I don’t understand why people in NY have big Dogs in little apartments and then don’t take them out to run around and also why do people let there dogs releave thereself on sidewalks peoples lawns I can’t begin to understand coming from a place where you just don’t do things like that NY is turning into a dirt pan and so are the people a real roach motel. WHY KILL ONE ROACH WHEN YOU CAN KILL THEM ALL AND GET RIT OF THE PROBLEM ALL TOGETHER ?mmmmmmmMMMMMMMM

  • Wolf

    Put the parents in jail. Only then will parents begin taking responsibility for their children

  • Andy

    ….many years ago after enduring a terribly long wait for a Brooklyn bus, it finally arrived….and two women exited, carrying off a queen sized mattress!

  • Zena

    or ghost posters with anti social comments?

  • Darwin

    You are a very silly, bossy old poop. And you can’t spell.

    Whatever the MTA driver said, normal people just grumble back. If I assaulted every rude person on the MTA, I’d never get out of prison!

    The alleged criminal, however, is exactly like you in her views on animal cruelty. She’s in favor of it. The MTA rule, sensibly, is that animals must be secure in a proper carrier: FOR THE ANIMAL’S SAFETY! A small dog or cat can be stepped on, brats can yank its ears/tail, it can run off the bus into traffic.

    I have taken pets on buses and subways, in locked, secure, relatively comfortable pet carriers.

  • Kevin

    Doesn’t mean they belong on public transportation. You have a serious intellect problem. You are just an idiot.

  • GettoWatch1984-09

    THE ONLY SOLUTION: EVACUATE NYC

  • LG

    She should be thrown in jail just for having that hideous name for crying out loud.

  • Moon Them

    That’s it! Ship her off to SPACE CAMP in the summer! EVERY SUMMER!

  • Trishe

    The full story has not been told, AGAIN! I wonder what really happened. I know the bus drivers and for that matter many MTA worker are extreamly rude, obnoxious and can anger anyone very quickly. They need to be retrained because they deal with the public on a daily basis. That being said, that kid needs to be reprimanded for her act, just get off the bus and get a carrier.

    • margie

      You are sick!! Go get some help. Most people not just minorities love cats or dogs as companions. Why are u using caps?? You are just a hateful person!

    • Johnny Handsome

      Hey Trishe; I think what you wrote was nasty, rude and obnoxious. II want to find you and bust your face in. Is that okay? No? Then how the hell can your dumb a0s blame the victim of the crime for being assaulted? The kid needs to be reprimanded? You really are an idiot. The kid is now facing FELONY assault charges – 20 years mandatory. Her dog will be dust the next time this animal sees it. The “Kid” needs to be locked away for life – never to see the streets again. Let her rot away in a jail cell. She has no place in free society.

      • John

        Well said. AGREED.

    • Shaka

      I’m sorry but dogs are animals and need not go to supermarkets, buses, movie theatres, etc. humans are doing them more harm then good for petes sake! “Mike” is on point w/this one.

    • Babygirl51

      she was LATIN NOT A BEAUTIFUL PERSON OF BROWN SPEAK FOR YOURSELF WHEN USING THE WORD BLACK.

  • margie

    That bus driver should have been more concerned about the trashy people coming onto the bus than worry about what seemed to be a small dog. She should have let her on the bus with the dog and call the police . Instead she probably argued with the teen and who knows probably tried too grab the dog.

  • Moon Them

    That’s it! Ship her off to SPACE CAMP in the summer! EVERY SUMMER!

  • matty

    Exactly…

  • jojo

    I have a feeling that the drivers don’t say a word because fear of being beat up. I lived in NY for 35 years and took public transportation every day all around the city and I have to say I have never seen anyone with a leashed pet on a train or bus (maybe a guide dog) but that was it. I have no idea why people bring race into this.

  • Ellen

    danny of course. Just look at history. Germany and World War 11, now that’s what I call drama in a big way.

    • Moon Them

      Holy cow, how did I miss out on all the other 9 World Wars? Eleven, imagine that! LOL. Actually, everyday is like a world war out there, 365 days of the year.

    • IgnoranteElephante

      World War 11? Wow, I missed 9 World Wars. This was one hell of a nap I took!

  • jojo

    Trash is right, whether she is black, PR white or pink with purple poka dots. Beating up a bus driver for doing her job is a savage act. Hopefully, she now knows that assaulting a bus driver is the same as assaulting a police officer. It will probably be a felony charge. I just don’t get people. If you want to bring your pet on a train, bus plane etc. Buy a pet travel bag or carrier where they can be contained. You can then bring it on public transportation. Hopefully she spends some time in jail .

  • Joseph Didonato

    Do you know the bus driver can now take off up to 120 days no questions asked. I know someone who took all these time off just for being spitted at.

    • jojo

      Yes I heard about that. I think that needs to be changed. I am all for 120 days when appropriate (being savagely beaten would qualify). However, being spit at, give me a break. Maybe a day or 2.

  • Ellen

    Has nothing to do with race, greed or color, and everything to do with poor upbringing and no morals what so ever, This happens all over the place.

    • margie

      Amen to you!

    • Teara

      So true Ellen!

    • matty

      Shut Up…It’s a Black thing…

  • nyc

    What is going on with all this violence ? People are turning into savages in this cement jungle !

  • mondieu

    electric chair for the prole

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