MTA Bus Driver Suspended After Video Shows Him In Violent Confrontation With Alleged Fare-Beater
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A bus driver is suspended without pay after a viral video shows him in a violent confrontation with an alleged fare-beater.
Some of the driver's coworkers are defending his actions, but not everyone agrees he did the right thing.
"He was probably having a bad day," Tanya Ambrose said, of Queens Village.
In the video, the Q-112 driver can be seen forcefully saying no to a 16-year-old who wanted a free ride, saying he did not have money for the fare.
"What's wrong with you, kid?" the bus driver is heard on video saying during the physical confrontation.
The driver goes on to say: "I've been here 25 years; you ain't even 25 years old," and: "I feel tough every f***ing day, little boy. You hear me? You hear me?"
In the three and a half minute video, the driver and the teen trade insults loaded with F-bombs.
Then, the teen tries to flee and the bus driver overpowers him.
A woman, whose voice you hear in the video saying she was going to call the ambulance, spoke with CBS2's Dave Carlin and said what you don't see in the video is when the bus driver pushed the boy off the bus.
"I was in total shock. I had to call the cops. The bus driver had the kid in a choke hold," she said.
But some say the boy was wrong, being stubborn and belligerent.
"The bus driver said get out of the bus, you get out of the bus. The driver has the right," Mohamed Lamine said.
Witnesses tell Carlin when the teenager got off the bus, the incident didn't end there. He reportedly grabbed a trash can and threw it at the bus and was arrested.
The trash can dented the door and the boy has been charged with misdemeanor criminal action.
The driver is not charged with a crime but because of his behavior, he has been suspended without pay.
"I think the bus driver never should have ever gotten out of the seat. He should have straight called the police," Ambrose said.
Transit Workers Local 100 released a statement saying, "This driver has 25 years of service. He's military veteran working on Veterans Day and now he's facing termination. We intend to vigorously defend his livelihood."
But some of his colleagues say he took it way too far.
"It's wrong. We don't beat people. We're bus drivers, we're supposed to drive people, not beat them," an MTA bus driver named Jennifer said.
She says fare-beaters often get their free rides because something like this just isn't worth it.
The MTA issued a statement Tuesday saying, "Bus operators are instructed to avoid any type of altercation in cases involving fare evasion. The incident is under investigation."
Bus drivers told CBS2 fare-beaters are extremely common because they know bus operators are trained to just let them get away with it.
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