What the ... (Cleveland) bustard?!?!?

I was asked if I saw "the video of the bus driver" yesterday. I didn't know what my co-worker was talking about. A lot of people at work were talking about it. A video on YouTube of a bus driver in Cleveland giving a vicious uppercut to a woman and tossing her off the bus. It didn't sound like something I would like to watch. Seeing a guy hit a woman isn't something I find funny.

A co-worker said "You have to watch the whole video. See what led up to it." So I did. Damn. While I do not like the idea of a man hitting a woman I would have to say there was a lot of provocation. (Oh, and to the YouTards who posted about the women being a teen girl ... fuck off. The bustard is 25 years old. She is a grown ass woman!) She was actually pushing him while he was driving the bus and at one point it looked like she went for his neck. WHILE HE WAS DRIVING THE BUS!!! I don't like that he hit her, I would hope I would have reacted another way, but I understand why he did it.

Then I watched the interview the woman, Shidea Lane, did. (Mind you it was on a FOX station so I shouldn't be surprised.) What a crock of shit. Typical of the media wanting to sensationalise a story, they left out everything the woman did leading up to the hit. The bitch actually tried to play the victim! After watching that I think she got what she deserved. She is lucky she wasn't in Florida or he could have shot her.

The bitch tried playing the victim card. She actually had the gall to go on about how it is "amazing to see how a man could hit a woman that hard." You could have sent a bus load of people out of control and killed them you stupid cunt. You are lucky you aren't in jail! Of course none of this was mentioned by the Fox "reporter".

The "reporter" did ask her about her actions, without any detail, leading up to the punch.

Reporter: "What can you say about your role in this incident? Did you hit him?"

Bustard: "No, see, that is why I want to talk to my lawyer. I can't answer that question. I am sorry but there is more to it ... its like ... there is more to it than that."

The "reporter" lets that slide and says, in a voice over of the video of her being hit ,

"But Lane does admit that 2 wrongs do not make a right and she says she's changed."

I do have to chuckle when the bustard says if it happened again she would "remove myself from the situation without even the decency of having a conversation with the guy." Conversation? I hope she doesn't think that her antics on the bus constituted a conversation. Then again if she sees herself as the victim she is probably deluded enough to think that.

After watching both videos, I think the bustard got off lucky. She should have been charged for attacking the bus driver. Or at least for endangering the others by attacking him while the bus was moving. The bus driver has been suspended and may lose his job. The bustard is getting her 15 minutes of fame instead of being charged with assault. Odds are she will try to milk the incident for all she can. Such is life.

A couple of other things kind of stuck in my craw over this incident.

The passengers on the bus. What did they do while this was going on? Many whipped out their cell phones to video it.  None tried to stop her when she was attacking the driver while the bus was moving. Even the "security guard" on the bus was next to useless. I would hope that if some moron is attacking my bus driver I have the sense to stop them. Especially if the bus is moving!

The RTA's response. Suspend the bus driver. Apologize for the incident. Yet they don't address the actions of the bustard that led to the incident. They are perfectly happy to dump all blame on the driver.  Odds are this is to try and prevent a lawsuit but that doesn't make it right.

The police. Given the fact this footage is public and has been for what, a month, why hasn't ANYONE been charged? If the bus driver's actions were so reprehensible why wasn't he charged? And why the hell wasn't the bustard charged for endangering the lives of the other passengers? Just because he hit her?

 The security guard. It was pointed out to me that the person in the orange vest with yellow stripes was a security guard. If true, why the hell didn't THEY subdue the bustard? What a useless git. Why weren't they suspended for not doing their job?