A feminine Los Angeles metropolis bus driver was attacked by a girl attempting to journey DASH on Sunday — simply two days after tons of of Metro bus driver staged a sick-out protesting security considerations.
In a video captured by OnScene.TV, the motive force might be heard telling the feminine passenger to get out of the bus as the girl reaches over a protecting barrier. The driving force swings open the barrier door and shoves her off, earlier than the 2 spill into the road — close to LAPD’s Newton Division — on Central Avenue at Jefferson Boulevard.
The 2 obtained right into a scuffle round noon, in accordance with Los Angeles police. Video exhibits the passenger pushing and punching the bus driver, who defends herself — at one level kicking the girl in an obvious try and get her to again off. Witnesses stated the fracas got here after the feminine passenger refused to pay the 50-cent fare, KTLA reported.
The encounter didn’t seem to final for greater than a minute, and the motive force was handled on the scene, police stated. But it surely underscored the challenges dealing with bus drivers and transit companies extra extensively.
Bus drivers throughout the county have been coping with rising hostility from passengers. Assaults on transit employees have tripled during the last 15 years, in accordance with analysis from the City Institute. Between 2008 and 2022 federal knowledge present the variety of assaults leading to deaths or medical transport rose to 492 from 168 nationwide.
Though Metro drivers have confronted a number of high-profile assaults in latest months, the DASH system, which is operated by town in 27 communities together with downtown Los Angeles, has largely stayed out of the highlight. The girl was arrested however not but booked as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, in accordance with the Los Angeles Police Division.
The DASH bus service feeds into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and prepare community, the place operators say they’re anxious about being targets. Earlier this 12 months, a Metro bus driver was hijacked by an individual carrying an airsoft gun, then one other was stabbed as passengers watched.
The latest deadly stabbing of a feminine safety guard getting back from her evening shift on a Metro subway has spurred the Metro board to contemplate facial recognition know-how and fare gates to assist stop comparable assaults.
However unionized Metro prepare and bus operators have criticized Metro for failing to reply shortly and forcefully sufficient to violence on the system.
