From the Daily News:A Ridgewood woman who was kicked off a city bus when she was gravely ill due to a mini-stroke is now preparing to sue New York City Transit.
Rafaela Santiago, 54, was heading home on the Q58 bus from Main St. in Flushing on Nov. 21 about 6:30 p.m. when her vision became blurry and she vomited, she said.
Moments later, the bus reached a stop where the driver told everyone to transfer onto the next bus because he had to take the vehicle back to the depot, Santiago recalled.
But she was in no shape to go anywhere and pleaded with the driver to call an ambulance for her, she said.
"He said, 'Put on your jacket and get out,'" said Santiago, who works at Flushing Hospital. "I fell on the seat and started vomiting in front of him."
Santiago, a mother of four, said the driver dropped her off on Grand Ave. - on a night of near-freezing temperatures. She stumbled into a nearby nail salon when she started feeling numbness in her hands.
She eventually was taken to Wyckoff Hospital. (St. John's is much closer and has a stroke center, but it's ER must have been on diversion...)
12 comments:
"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" - Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975
"Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"
Not that funny here.
Best to her and her lawsuit!!! The MTA has specific guidelines to follow when a passenger has an injury. They were ignored by a lazy sack of %&*!. Sux for us bc we pay for the MTA, but I hope this woman enjoys her days on a beach in Fla w/ a nice settlement.
Most of these MTA workers are not very bright and seem to feel invincible in having a union behind them.
The article brings to mind an unpleasant incident I was involved in Jan. 1998. I was on a Downtown Lexington ave bus a little after midnight. Around 69th street a very old woman boards, I noticed because she took forever to get up the steps.
A few seconds later the driver starts yelling at her "why don't you have the fucking fare ready, you're making me wait".
She said something, then he yelled again "that's your fucking problem."
There were only a few people on the bus, and ofcourse no one did or said anything..so I went up to see what the problem was. The driver said "mind you damn business sit down."
My Brother worked in the Mayor's office as an "investigator" and I had his business card which i pulled out pretending it was mine. I told that he was headed for a lot of trouble if he didn't apologize. He turned forward and said quietly "I don't want no trouble' and then, still looking out the window said "i'am sorry".
He might as well have said F-you but I let it go. When I got off I tried to get the number of the run on the front of the bus but he took off. I did get the bus' serial and sent a letter to the MTA. Heard nothing in return.
I know driving a bus is a tough job, but this was late night, no traffic, and there is no excuse for talking to people this way. Where this driver comes from he'd probably get shot for that attitude.
Two disgraces here:
1) The MTA lied when it said that it did not know who the driver was. But, it's a tax paid agency, so the lying is standard (as well as the original mistreatment).
2) That no other passengers stepped up as Lino did. What? Nobody had a cell phone? Nobody could write down identifying information to provide to the MTA or the police?
Naturally, the third disgrace here is that Commissar Death and Taxes has done nothing to force the MTA to identify the driver. But, he is a disgrace on his best day.
I am by no means a fan of the incompetent MTA or its lazy workers, but something tells me that there to this story than this woman is telling us. It seems just a bit too well-packaged, one-sided and tailor-made for a lawsuit.
I am by no means a fan of the incompetent MTA or its lazy workers, but something tells me that there is more to this story than this woman is telling us. It seems just a bit too well-packaged, one-sided and tailor-made for a lawsuit.
That's weird because the train conductors love nothing more than a sick passenger-- they get to hold up entire lines for untold minutes. They love that! Makes them feel important. I guess for a bus, it's not the same kick.
No, I don't believe there's more to this story. On my bus line there's a particular driver who's notorious for being verbally abusive to the elderly and handicapped. I've both seen it myself and heard about him from others.
Sometimes it comes down from management too. Abuse the drivers and they will abuse the passengers.
I too, smell bullshit on this woman's story. To the last post. Just because your bus driver is a prick doesn't mean they all are. I have seen really good ones, who go out of their way to help people, and really bad ones like the ones you described.
If you separate your opinion of bus drivers, either good or bad, and read this woman's account on its own, there just seems to be some missing pieces to the story. Until the story is clarified and confirmed, I am not embracing her charges as gospel.
No, I don't mean to suggest that this is the norm--only that there is a weirdo on my bus line and may be on other lines as well.
Certainly dealing with the public is a b*tch. I worked as a teller for years so I know, but sadists and bullies exist also and I have seen the handicapped abused for no reason by bus drivers and others.
SUE THE HELL OUT OF THE DRIVER AND THE BUS COMPANY.
Don't believe everything you read.
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