Union President Wants Police Officers On City Buses Amid Attacks On Drivers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A New York City bus union is calling for police officers to ride on dangerous bus lines.
Transit Workers Union President John Samuelsen told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb there's an epidemic of assaults against bus drivers -- three per week.
Samuelsen called the situation an absolute crisis that needs to be dealt with.
"We believe that the city has the ability to do an analysis of the most dangerous bus lines and then put a cop on every one of those buses," he said.
Two weeks ago, surveillance video captured an attack on a bus driver in Brooklyn. The video showed a man throwing numerous punches at the driver, reaching around the security gate to attack him. The driver was hit repeatedly in the face.
Several days later, 29-year-old Thutmose Scott Clark turned himself in to police for questioning. Clark was accompanied by his mother and the family's pastor as he surrendered. They said Clark suffers from mental illness and autism, and that those conditions caused Clark to attack the bus driver.
"It's not a heavy lift for the NYPD and come on, three bus operators a week are getting assaulted," said Samuelsen. "If three cops were getting assaulted a week or three school teachers perhaps, it would be identified as the crisis it is."
The NYPD said its officers board buses regularly for inspections, but Samuelsen wants police presence beefed up even more.