http://youtu.be/fOyGnigQfNII
Metro officials say they’ve found the Metrobus driver filmed unceremoniously heaving a passenger from his ride. Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel says Metro isn’t releasing the allegedly grumpy driver’s name, and that there’s no word on criminal charges against him. “At this point, this is an administrative process,” he says.
Video of the incident surfaced Tuesday and made the rounds on news sites, with no one having a clue as to how such an ugly incident could have happened. But now we may know: If you stumble onto a bus, crush a toddler, get mouthy with other passengers, then threaten the driver, you might just get catapulted.
According to an account given to transit cops by the witness who filmed the shoving, it all happened on the U-5 to Lincoln Heights.
On August 31, 2011 at approximately 2031 hours while riding the U-5 bus en route to Lincoln Heights, a male patron boarded in the area of Minnesota Avenue, N.E. being loud and boisterous. C1 stated that the patron appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance (either narcotics or alcohol) and unsteady on his feet. While boarding the bus, the patron stumbled and fell onto a female patron that was seated and also fell on top of that patrons 2 year old child. The female patron became angry and pushed him off of the child at which point he fell to the floor of the bus. He was then assisted to a seat by a patron exiting the bus. While seated, he became involved in a verbal altercation with several other patrons. The patron stood up next to the bus operator and began to threaten him unprovoked. C1 stated that the bus operator ignored the patron initially however the threats continued. She stated that the bus operator became frustrated and pulled the bus over to confront the patron and demanded that he exit the bus. This is the point in which she began to film the incident with her cell phone.
To see what happened from there, just play the vid.
City Desk has asked for updates on whether the driver will be reprimanded in some way, since Stessel earlier said that the driver did the wrong thing, and should have called transit police. We’ll add more if we hear back.