Protect ME, Not My Assailant

Deke's Note: Perusing Facebook recently, I found Willamette Week reader comments about an Oregon legislative bill to make assaulting transit workers a felony. Many readers support the bill, others do not. Here's a few of their remarks, followed by my thoughts on what people are saying about the proposed HB2677.

"Sounds more like an excuse to jail the homeless and mentally ill to me." -- Terri Rothfusz

"Does anyone who's against this actually know what it's like to be trapped in that operator seat, and opening the door to who-knows-what? It's not like the bus or MAX operators have another escape route. I can tell you that operating the bus after being menaced or threatened puts hundreds of other lives at risk, but you wouldn't believe me until you've sat in that seat yourself." -- Thomas Palmer

Why make assaulting a transit worker a felony? Some say it goes "too far" protecting certain classes of worker, putting "marginalized groups" at greater risk of prosecution. Along with many of my brothers and sisters, I heartily disagree.

Reading the recent WW article "Slap a Bus Driver..." I found it strangely slanted toward how it would be wrong to protect public sector workers who are subject to vicious assaults. The article quotes an attorney who asks what makes us "special." The tone of the article suggests it should be okay to beat the crap out of us, especially if there is no weapon involved. It further whines about how "homeless people and people of color" would be unfairly targeted by a law elevating assault on transit workers a felony. What makes us "special," it asks pointedly.

How about this:

• We transport a large percentage of this city's workforce to and from their jobs?
• We do so without the benefit of protection.
• Those who attack us are not usually of one or two specific classes of the population.
• Assaults and menacing have been on the rise here (and nationwide) over the past five years
• Leonard James, a popular Line 33 operator, was stabbed and suffered long-term health problems which eventually resulted in his premature retirement in 2012.
• A fellow bus operator documents incidents in which Portland transit workers are menaced, threatened and assaulted; in 2018, he documented 116 such incidents. Our employer's numbers are far less, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 numbers are somewhere in between the two. There is no agreed-upon standard, or rational definition of violence toward transit workers, between the parties.
• We transport people of all races and socioeconomic statuses. An attack can come from anyone, and it certainly isn't always from a homeless person or "person of color."

Assholes come in every color, race, religion or socioeconomic status. To base a decision on whether to vote for making transit worker assaults a felony based on these reasons is a cop-out.

Try physically assaulting a politician, cop or airline pilot and see how long you sit in a cell. Yet transit operators remain in the cellar opinion-wise as to our worth to society. We're disrespected at many levels, except for the decent passengers who pay their fare and follow rules designed to keep everyone safe.

The majority of our passengers simply want to use our inexpensive, safe ride to reach a destination. They neither favor or oppose us. We provide a service, and they use it. There is an expectation of civility on transit, the same as you would assume exists in any public space. Society demands certain behaviors from people in various situations. While Americans are somewhat arrogant when it comes to social responsibility compared to those in other countries, most of us tend to get along reasonably in groups. If we keep our prejudices silent, treat others with respect and use decent manners, there are usually few problems.

Then there's a minority who are not afraid to express these self-entitled mores to those they deem inferior. This smaller group is largely well-behaved and easily-ignored. An even smaller group has no respect for rules or for those who devote their working lives to providing transit services. They can usually be handled efficiently as they're often not intelligent enough to be outwitted by experienced operators.

Finally, there is the smallest percentage of people who are hell-bent on wreaking havoc no matter the consequences. Either that, or they don't believe anyone has the "right" to tell them how to behave. This is the most dangerous group we encounter, and it happens on any bus or light rail line every service day. Many have been incarcerated before, and have some strange self-destruct gene the rest of us lack. Any "rule" is meant for others, not them, or so they tend to believe. A bus operator to them is simply a robot, or yet another "uniform" they feel no respect for and is therefore open game for their brand of mayhem.

Granted, many in this group are often in serious need of mental health treatment. We can thank our government for not providing necessary services, as it chose decades ago to stop funding facilities designed to treat their various conditions. Now they tend to reside "on the street" due to their inability to secure and/or maintain employment. Yes, they are "marginalized." This, according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, means "to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group." Society has done this to protect itself from those the government refuses to protect us from.

While I don't know the exact definition of "normal," I suppose in this context it means people who are not prone to routinely cause trouble for others. Most of us have something wrong with us, but it doesn't (for the most part) inhibit us from peacefully coexisting with the public-at-large. As long as we follow socially-acceptable behavior, life just rolls bumpily along.

When Billy Badass gets on board and starts causing a ruckus, it automatically registers on my radar as I guide The Beast down the road. First, my attention is distracted from the normal sounds one hears on a bus. That's dangerous, because our focus needs to be mostly centered upon a wide view of the road. Once I'm distracted, the chances of making a costly mistake that could injure many people off or on my bus is multiplied. At this moment, I have to make an instant judgment call. Is Billy a threat not only to my attention, but to my other passengers? If yes, I have to pull over and either use verbal judo to get Billy to simmer down or call Dispatch for assistance. Once that happens, my bus is delayed. If I have to wait for help to arrive, the schedule is shot and hopefully I'm not caught in the crossfire.

When an operator is attacked, it places everyone aboard in danger. I cannot adequately defend myself "in the seat," as I'm largely vulnerable in this facing-forward position. My management counsels us not to leave the seat as it tends to be considered aggressive. Their position is it's better for us to remain passive as we're under threat, or attack. Any movement we make is often construed as too aggressive, even though we could be terrified out of our wits. This logic is fallible at best, but that's how they think. Operators have been suspended or fired for using too much force than it considers "reasonable self-defense." I've been down this road many times in this forum, and it's full of potholes, a position I cannot seem to effectively communicate to the masses. It's ludicrous to keep trying, perhaps the very definition of insanity. Yet I keep doing so in hopes at some point the public finally gets the point: we are constantly put in serious risk of injury, or God help us, a violent death.

Back to Billy. He's either embroiled in a verbal or physical altercation with one or more of my once-calm passengers. I'm on the radio with Dispatch, who assures me "help is on the way." I have no idea how far said "help" is, so I'm left to my own devices. An operator is a human being, subject to the biological "fight or flight" syndrome that has been with us since our DNA came into being. Upon feeling a threat, I'm going to turn sideways toward the door, unbuckle my safety belt and watch the scene unfold. Both doors are open, and the parking brake set, tranny in neutral. If Billy decides I'm his next victim, my defensive stance (still in the seat, but less vulnerable now) at least allows me more options to defend my heartbeat. Hopefully, it also exonerates me from the Monday Morning Quarterback Review board's determination into whether I did everything reasonable and prudent during the incident. Mostly though, I'm more concerned for my well-being and that of my passengers than what some corporate manager thinks.

Once the cops blast through the door and subdue Billy, my body returns to a less intense state. However, the adrenalin rush has drained me, my blood pressure has rocketed, and now I'm angry. Passengers want to know when we can leave, yet I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to continue in service. Why? Because Billy will be on my mind the rest of my shift, and I'll be driving in a diminished capacity. Management however, wants me to roll on. They don't understand how it feels to be threatened unless they've been in my position.

The result of this behavior from one person of nearly a thousand I've served that day has already cost thousands of dollars in the 20 minutes it took to unfold. Various personnel have responded to the scene. Reports are written, Dispatch notified of the incident's body count, passengers giving statements to the cops. It's a massive waste of time and money. Oh but wait... Billy is of a "disadvantaged societal group" and therefore due special consideration for his outrageous behavior.

Now the courts must decide what type of punishment to dole out. This also costs the taxpayer money. Are we unfairly picking on Billy because he's a drug addict whose childhood drove him to cause trouble? Not at all. If Cindy Accountant had done what Billy had, there would be no calls for leniency from advocacy groups. She'd be in big trouble.

So why not just make sure Billy gets help? Because taxes are not usually spent to protect the taxpayers themselves. It's not spent on schools because the prison industry wants to fill beds rather than help Billy at his most vulnerable age. If our society would re-direct focus toward helping youths navigate the mosh pit of a disadvantaged beginning, perhaps the end result would be a healthier Billy.

Try pushing a cop, he might just beat your ass all the way to jail. Punch an airline pilot? You're going away for a long time. Shove Lassie Operator driving a 20-ton bus with 40 people on board, and the special interest groups will attack her safety record and plead down Billy's dangerous stunt to a misdemeanor. Lassie gets a Preventable Accident for slicing off Polly Prius's illegally-parked car as she wrestles the bus into a safe landing. Or worse, the bus flips over and people are killed, magnifying Lassie's woes as the focus turns on her rather than the perpetrator who caused the disturbance.

The WW article also quotes our GM as saying the agency's support of HB 2677 is "an example where we work with the ATU." Really? About damn time. Dude, we've been up management's ass about assaults most of this decade, and now you're bragging about finally wagging your finger at the bad boys who ride our rolls? I'll be impressed when you get up on your gilded soapbox and say this: "Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, who menaces or assaults one our 'family' members will NEVER RIDE PORTLAND TRANSIT AGAIN. DO... NOT... MESS... WITH... THEM." Until then, just try and get this one right. It's an easy assignment, don't fail the test.

So yeah, please make it a felony to assault us, paramedics, nurses and doctors, firefighters and anyone else who serves the public. We're at risk out there, yet we turn the wheels of every economy. When we're at risk, so are those who ride in our vehicles, as well as those traveling in our immediate vicinity. We all deserve protection from the tiny slice of society which wreaks havoc on those who toil in the trenches of public service. The troublemakers are marginalized, we're scrutinized. Who in their right mind thinks this is acceptable?

It's time to stop protecting those who put others in danger. Stop making excuses for troublemakers. I don't care what they are or where they come from... that's immaterial to public safety. Protect us instead, for crying out loud. It's the right thing to do.