Ohio bus driver punches female passenger on video

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP) CLEVELAND- A Cleveland transit bus driver has been suspended after a video surfaced that shows him punching a female passenger in the face.

The Regional Transit Authority in Cleveland says the confrontation happened three weeks ago but officials didn't know about it until seeing the video.

The agency said Friday that the bus driver is a 22-year veteran of the transit authority and was suspended immediately. His name hasn't been released.

A video posted on YouTube shows the 25-year-old woman and the driver arguing at the front of the bus before he got out of his seat and punched her.

The bus agency has apologized to the woman. She has not filed charges.

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by citizenusa-2009 October 17, 2012 12:35 PM EDT

I'm from Ohio and when I rode the bus, passengers abused the drivers to no end. I have to say that this guy's uppercut was impressive!! Perhaps now she will think twice before spitting in someone's face!

BTW - He'd BETTER get his job back or someone's going to get punched..lol

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by nosay October 24, 2012 10:46 AM EDT: This woman endangered the lives of every one on the bus when she attacked the driver (the part edited out). What if he would have crashed? Would we still be thinking of her as a victim or apologizing to her.The people on the bus should have thrown her off. The woman was clearing the aggressor. You never know what someones breaking point is. Everyone is entitled to being when you take that away you go back to a slavery mind set (you have to take whatever I do to you and still do your job). If you want to be respected as a woman act like one.


by Hoggbeatz October 16, 2012 1:01 PM EDT: This is just messed up... This "ELDER" was doing his job and this young dumb,Ignorant female...Let's look into that a bit shall we?
Young females of today think they can talk to anybody that they want to with little to NO RESPECT. Clearly they are not taught how to function in society. WE (In society) should NOT have to correct your children from this type of behavior. This female was an Adult and she knew exactly what she was saying and how she was saying it. I feel bad for the driver, I mean his company didn't even defend him in NO WAY!!!! He gave them 22 years of loyalty and this is how they do him huh? She's in (story hungry) media now doing interviews and acting as if she was the victim. Poor thing, she doesn't even know their just making a fool out of her by putting her on TV letting her tell her story. That's another sad thing but, I leave that for another topic...
This man should file charges against his company(RTA). Ok, You can't just walk around punching people right? We are told to Call 911 (is a joke) for help right? I bet if I walked up to a Police officer and hit him/her, I would probably get shot and killed (In California). But because He's just a Bus driver, Let's fire him so that the public (even tho she didn't pay for her ride) can abuse our Team of Drivers that make service our Community by making sure the citizens get to and from safely. Let this be an example to all of us who allow their kids to run wild. In you home this may be ok, or maybe in your 4-6 block radius... But If someone attacked me, I would have done the same and more!!! Just because we are (at times) civilized, We are still unpredictable like a wild animal. Some people will be victimized and some times killed during an attack because they refuse to fight back.Some people Will NOT ALLOW THEIR LIFE TO BE AT RISK FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF ANOTHER'S GAIN (Bullying).

He should get help in order to recover from this attack from the girl and from the media that is airing her story. I would've done waaay more than that!; Reply to this comment


by Retired_in_Va October 15, 2012 11:43 AM EDT: Let me see, someone grabs me by the throat, spits in my face and you do not expect me to fight back. I get suspended and the PERSON get an apology "His behavior is absolutely unacceptable. RTA apologizes to our customers for this incident."

The bus driver is the one RTA needs to apologize and the PERSON should never be allowed on a bus again. Maybe they need new management at RTA!; Reply to this comment


by Retired_in_Va October 15, 2012 11:43 AM EDT: Let me see, someone grabs me by the throat, spits in my face and you do not expect me to fight back. I get suspended and the PERSON get an apology "His behavior is absolutely unacceptable. RTA apologizes to our customers for this incident."

The bus driver is the one RTA needs to apologize and the PERSON should never be allowed on a bus again. Maybe they need new management at RTA!; Reply to this comment


by Teddie Seeley October 14, 2012 5:59 AM EDT: If the passenger had been a man, the bus driver would have gotten away with defending himself. The woman struck him first, Judge Judy, would say she deserved being hit back.
They should have put him on suspension with pay, until they investigated this thoroughly.; Reply to this comment


by Window13 October 14, 2012 12:28 AM EDT: This article is missing a lot of details and this video shows only the bus driver getting up. In the full video the bus driver is insulted by the woman. The woman eventually walks over and punches the bus driver. The bus driver then get up and hit the woman back. Details are very important. The bus driver is suspended for basically defending himself that is why the woman didn't press charges because she assaulted the bus driver first. Full clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM9IgR5ZXII; Reply to this comment


by ludvig1-2009 October 13, 2012 11:19 PM EDT: We don't know the facts. I know when I rode one bus, I felt like punching the driver. I was unfamiliar with how to catch the bus so asked someone at the airport that sold me the bus ticket and she said "A bus will pull up here in 5 minutes get on it." I did. It went the wrong direction. It was late at nite. We were on a 1 way street. I told the bus driver I made a mistake and got on the bus and needed to get on one going the other way. He stopped the bus. I asked him where I could catch a bus the other way. It was nite and I had no idea if I was in a bad part of the city or not. The bus driver said .......... He wouldn't tell me a damn thing. He just kept his mouth shut. I mean he was a total a hole. Finally an airline stewardess on the bus told me where I could walk to catch a bus going the other way. I told another bus driver what that guy did and he said he should have been fired.; Reply to this comment


by bobc1493 October 13, 2012 12:57 PM EDT: From Cool Hand Luke... "she asks for it, she gets it"

GIVE THE DRIVER A COMMENDATION AND HIS JOB BACK!!!

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE WILLING TO STAND THEIR GROUND AN NOT TAKE CRAP FROM JERKS OO JERKETTS; Reply to this comment


by gogirlakup October 13, 2012 11:45 AM EDT: Iam offended as a woman. No. I am offended as a LADY at the behavior of this young woman and others like her. There is n need to go here. She hit the guy first. Do In wish he had just piucked her up literally and threw he roff the bus rather than cold **** him. Yes I do but she hit him first it was self defense. She learned a lesson that a women in her life should have accurately taught her when she was younger. This is a situation that only cops, teachers and busdrivers truly understand.; Reply to this comment


by marine1957 October 13, 2012 12:00 AM EDT: Looks like self-defense to me. There's nothing as bad as a woman with a fat mouth who won't shut up (watch how Judge Judy handles them!); Reply to this comment