Fired: Bus Driver Caught Reading while Driving
A Portland-area transit agency says it has fired a bus driver who was videotaped while apparently reading an electronic book as he drove along Interstate 5.
TriMet's Mary Fetsch said Wednesday 40-year-old Lahcen Qouchbane was terminated for "posing an immediate threat to public safety" and violating policy.
No word on whether he plans to appeal. His lawyer, Jonah Paisner, earlier told KGW-TV the driver wasn't reading.
A passenger's cell phone video captured the Sept. 16 scene. TriMet pulled the driver from his route and placed him on leave. Fetsch said the agency received several complaints about the driver before this incident.
CBS affiliate KOIN reports that in 2006, Qouchbane was terminated by the transportation company--also for posing an immediate threat to the public--but was reinstated after a 30-day suspension and an appeal process, which ended in October of 2007.