The video below shows a disturbing scene where a Cleveland municipal bus driver decked an obnoxious female passenger after a loud and profane shouting match. It is equally disturbing to hear the laughing of some of the other passengers on the bus — a shocking example of a moral abyss in our society.
The 22-year veteran of the Regional Transit Authority has been suspended. He is shown saying that “She want to be a man, I’m gonna treat you like a man” after decking her. This of course misses the point that you cannot deck men or women for verbal abuse on a city bus.
The question is the liability for the city. The driver was clearly working at the time for purposes of respondeat superior. However, is this a “frolic or a detour” from this scope of employment? Drivers are trained not to get involved in fights, but to call police. Yet, the driver was acting to “keep order” on the bus and could be seen as performing a task related to this job, even if it was done in violation of city guidelines. Even if vicarious liability is not applicable, there is straight negligence in firing or training or supervision that could be alleged. We often see these cases with security staff who use excessive force but a bus driver is not a security personnel position.
As for the driver, this is clearly assault and battery under torts as well as a potentially criminal act. Either way, the suspension is a predictable move as would eventual termination.
[WARNING: The video is peppered with curse words and racial slurs.]
Warning the video below shows violence and includes graphic and racist elements:
Source: Washington Post
I have always taught my daughter to never, EVER, throw the first punch. But, as soon as the other person touches you without your permission, you have every right to defend herself. I say we need to go BACK to the old school way of doing things. Maybe the world wouldn’t be the mess it’s in now if it had stayed that way. As soon as Dr. Spock wrote that damn book, the world went to hell.
IF MY DAUGHTER HAD DISRESPECTED, CUSSED, AND SPIT ON THAT OLD MAN WHILE HE WAS
DOING HIS JOB, CALL ME OLD SCHOOL, CAUSE SHE WOULD HAVE GOT ANOTHER BEAT DOWN WHEN SHE GOT HOME..IJS!!
Lola…
Oh Lola….. Girls will be girls…..
I think that guy did exactly what a lot of people WANT to do when we see this kind of vile behavior from the young people in this society. I am so sick of hearing people say ” you can’t hit a woman!” Why not? Did she not put HER hands on him in a threatening manner? You can kill someone by choking them, and you can kill someone by spitting in their face if you do it while having AIDS. He had every right to stop her behavior in the quickest way possible. And he did. I am a 45 year old woman, and I applaud him for taking out the trash. She had no right to expect free passage on that bus and to not follow the rules. The sense of entitlement the younger generation has disgusts me. They think they should be able to get, do, and say anything they want just BECAUSE they want it. If you put your hands on someone, you should expect them to put their hands on you. Period. She got EXACTLY what she deserved. Maybe while she recovers from her broken jaw, she can learn how to speak proper English.
“More beatdowns like this by public officials and service providers are welcome to help bring some saneness to this overly tolerant and rude society we seem to errantly encourage in the name of “freedom(s)”.
“An armed society is a polite society.””
So what you’re saying is, in order to prevent violence and rude people we have to be violent?
Makes sense. It’d be different if there was any sort of legal framework in place that could punish people for assaulting other people, but in absence of that, I guess that a society where politeness is enforced by fear of retaliation has worked out well for us as a species in the past.
Right?
His first mistake was trying to best her verbally. This started as verbal jousting. He should have ignored her mouth and, in a calm voice, ask her to take a seat and repeat if necessary. The best way to avoid a fight is to not engage in the first place.
Was the guy with the vest there to keep order? If so, why did he not step between them while it was still verbal? “C’mon, ma’am, please take a seat.” If she didn’t, it was time to back her off the bus.
A John Wayne adherent. Settle all disputes with a fist or a gun.
“His behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. The RTA apologises to our customers for this incident. A full investigation continues.”
Why would the investigation continue, the RTA has already stated the the conclusion in his behavior being absolutely unacceptable. Sounds like it was over from the beginning.
The woman certainly appears to hit the driver first, at which point she backs away and punches her own hand in front of her body – like a boxer might – in what is very clearly a fighting stance and a threatening manner.
While the driver certainly hit her much HARDER than she hit him, he was no, as you imply, physically unprovoked.
It definitely appears as if she struck him while he was seated to provoke his retaliation.
More beatdowns like this by public officials and service providers are welcome to help bring some saneness to this overly tolerant and rude society we seem to errantly encourage in the name of “freedom(s)”.
“An armed society is a polite society.”
I was a bus driver in college. A bus driver is like the captain of a ship. The bus driver has the authority to remove disruptive passengers.
The young woman was clearly the aggressor. Even though the action is blocked by the fellow wearing the orange vest, one can distinctly hear a loud “slap” on the audio so it is evident the woman threw the first punch So at that point the whole Investor/coordinator class ethos of “men do not hit women” is invalidated.
In the early Nineties in Deadwood, SD I told an irate fellow passenger, on a shuttle bus, to shut-up and take her seat. I was thanked by the driver and the other passengers for standing up to a bully.
She is one tough woman. Most guys wouldn’t get up after that uppercut. This is life in the city all you white, suburban folk. I’m not saying it’s right @ all. The men in the Spinelli family were taught men NEVER hit women and to that rule there are NO exceptions. This is not shocking to me, I rode mass transit in big cities for many years.
“Whatever happened to men not hitting women? ”
What ever happened to people not hitting other people? It seems to me that if we stop all this “well, it’s o.k. to hit somebody as long as _______” we’d all be better off.
Or as JT said:
“This of course misses the point that you cannot deck men or women for verbal abuse on a city bus. “
Two racially disparaging blogs in the same day? Just stats!
Saw a similar thing here, white Swedes. Driver ordered everybody off the bus. The bus was being taken out of service due to passenger conflict. That done he drove away, leaving them all standing there.
According to The Guardian, Greater Cleveland RTA has issued this statement:
“The RTA saw the video posted on YouTube of the operator incident on October 11. Through the investigation, we believe the incident occurred on September 18. Upon identifying the driver, he was immediately suspended and removed from duty.
“His behaviour is absolutely unacceptable. The RTA apologises to our customers for this incident. A full investigation continues.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/12/cleveland-bus-driver-suspended-punching-teenager?newsfeed=true
The reaction I’ve seen to this video in the form of online comments amazes me. Most of it is along the line of “That guy is a hero. If any woman had treated me like that, I’d have decked her too.” Whatever happened to men not hitting women? Whatever happened to people providing a public service being expected to keep their cool and summon assistance when one of their customers becomes unruly? Instead, it’s WHAM to her jaw, and he’s a folk hero.
I can’t help but wonder whether this is at least in part because both parties are African American. There seems to be an attitude, that even some women in the African American community itself police and reinforce, that if a black woman fails to comport herself “like a lady” and gets too “mouthy” or physical with a black man, it’s OK for him to pop her one and “teach her a lesson.” Amazing. Or maybe it’s just that white people expect black people to attack and punch each other–they don’t know any better, right?
Something tells me that if this passenger were white, it would be a whole different story. There would be a tidal wave of outrage against the “angry black man” who couldn’t control his temper, and someone would’ve started a fund for the passenger-victim just like the one started for the white school bus monitor who was so viciously verbally abused by kids. It’d probably be up to several hundred thousand dollars by now.
I’m sorry. I don’t care how nasty the woman was. She may not make a highly sympathetic victim, but she didn’t deserve this treatment, and this bus driver needs to go.
“WARNING: The video is peppered with curse words and racial slurs”
Umm, I believe there may be some extreme violence in there too. I hope nobody is so inured to that that mere swearing is considered to be worse.
Absolutely nothing shocks me down here in the abyss!I
i haven’t seen anything here yet on the banker who has his charges dropped for assaulting the ny cab driver.Ii hope we do as that should be a lively discussion.
The driver should be disciplined after losing his cool. It is no different than being a cop. You are a public servant and need to act correctly, even if the public isn’t. If he was truly in danger, then he could have struck her, but there is no evidence on the tape that she put him in danger. He could have called the police to remove her from the bus.
City budgets are already under stress so they do not need this type of invitation to litigation.
It certainly looks like she hit him as the guy in the vest is moving. At that point, I’m thinking he did what he had to in order to prevent her from doing it again.