Plexiglas Did Not Protect Me

Deke's Note: I'm very happy to present the second in a series of Guest Posts. This time, it's written by a brother from the East Coast who has followed this blog for many years and has been supremely supportive of this blog. In keeping with the "Deke Mystique," our brother has chosen his own pseudonym, which I proudly honor with his contribution to this week's edition of FromTheDriverSide.

Plexiglas Shield Did Not Protect Me

by Bob Muldoon

The Plexiglas shield on my bus didn't protect me, but it did preserve my job.

On Sunday morning, a bicyclist rode up to my bus as I was leaving the transfer station. When I stopped at the sign, he started putting his bike in my bike rack. I honked my horn to tell him to stop, but he ignored my warnings.

He then banged on the door trying to board and I said, "I'm sorry, I can't open the door. It's not safe."

He returned to the front of my bus to retrieve his bike, but instead he sat down on my bike rack and started eating a sandwich.

I called my dispatcher and told him that the guy was preventing all of the buses from leaving the transfer station. A supervisor never responded, but a security guard arrived after a few minutes. He spoke with the man lounging on my bike rack until a police officer arrived. Then the man slowly removed his bike and left. Finally, I departed 12 minutes late, followed by the buses behind mine.

The hour-long outbound trip was uneventful, as was the first half of the return. Five men were waiting at the bus stop. Each one swiped his pass and sat down, except the last one. He began hocking up phlegm, and I only had a second to stop him before spat at me. I instinctively raised my arm to block him but was impeded by the Plexiglas sneeze guard. The slimy projectile hit my side window.

As he was preparing to spit again, I tried to kick him away but again was blocked by the sneeze guard. This time he hit my glasses, and his third assault landed in my hair. None of it hit the sneeze guard as intended. He ran off as quickly as it had happened.

Fortunately, the tape didn't show me trying to block the attack; I just sat there and took it. If I had appeared to hit the attacker or say anything that could offend him, I could have been fired for retaliation or the catch-all "unprofessional behavior." It would be up to the supervisors at the disciplinary hearing to decide my fate.

I knew that my passengers had to connect with buses downtown. But I also knew I had to report the attack, so I hit my red emergency button and waited for the dispatcher to respond. I gave him the details, and five minutes later a police car arrived. Ten minutes after that, a supervisor arrived to take my statement and pull the tape from the bus's surveillance camera.

Half an hour after I was scheduled to depart, a replacement driver arrived with another bus. The supervisor told me to drive my bus back to the garage and park it in front of the shop. He also said not to disturb the DNA evidence that was running down the window.

The next day, I reported to our Safety/Security Office, but he said that he didn't have enough evidence to prosecute the attacker because the video was not good enough quality to use in court. He also told me nobody gave him any DNA evidence to file.

He said that I could go to the Magistrate's office on my lunch break the following day to press charges. He gave me the Magistrate’s card and said, "Don't worry, if the Magistrate has any questions, just have him call me." 

That’s when I realized that the Safety/Security Department and Human Resources Department work for the Company, not for us. Their job is to protect the company from the employees. Only the Union and OSHA protect transit employees.

The receptionist at the Magistrate’s office gave me a form to fill out, and the first question: Name, Address and Date of Birth of the Defendant. I left it blank. Before the Magistrate said anything, he swore me in, then looked over the form. He noticed that I left the Defendant's information blank and said, we need to know who to serve the warrant to. I told him to call our Security Officer, but he just returned my form and told me to come back after I had completely filled out the form. Another lunch break wasted. 

Two weeks later, this assailant boarded my bus again. I didn't recognize him at first, but when he got off the bus and retrieved his bike, I got a good look at him. I used my phone to take a picture of him and his bike, then showed it to our Security Officer. (I should mention that there were no black employees in the Safety/Security Department at that time.) He said that I should have called the police. I told him I didn't recognize the attacker until after he exited my bus.

"Even if you just suspect him of assaulting you,” he replied, “you should call the police, send him to jail, and let the judge decide if he's guilty."

This guilty until proven innocent shit, along with seeing one of my regular passengers get stop-and-frisked while waiting at a bus stop, makes me understand how some people consider police their enemy.

I saw my attacker for the third time the following week. I have never said anything to him, but in my heart, I have forgiven the man who spat on me. However, I can never forgive the Company's callous indifference toward my assault or the attacks of my brother and sister drivers.

ATU STRONG... and proud of it.