Cleveland Bus Driver Suspended After Punching Female Passenger
By: Anna Breslaw
A 96-second video of an altercation between a 22-year-old Cleveland municipal bus driver named Artis Hughes and a 25-year-old female passenger later identified as Shidea Lane has gone viral on Reddit and is now gaining attention nationally.
The video features Lane and Hughes in a verbal argument, during which Hughes threatens to get his daughter and graddaughter to come deal with Lane. Finally, he audibly says, "She want to be a man, I'm gonna treat you like a man," and gives her a hard uppercut to the chin before throwing her off the bus. Incredibly, she boards again, and passengers end up breaking up the fight.
Naturally, the fine people at Reddit had some charming things to say about the incident ("holy shit that crazy bitch can take a punch!") but the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority was less enthused, and they're currently launching a serious investigation into his past conduct.
RTA saw the video posted on YouTube of the operator incident on October 11. Through the investigation, we believe the incident occurred on Sept. 18. Upon identifying the driver, he was immediately suspended and removed from duty. His behavior is absolutely unacceptable. RTA apologizes to our customers for this incident. A full investigation continues.
Neither party is pressing charges at this time.
