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A bus passenger was arrested by police after verbally attacking passengers in a racially laced tirade on a Transport of Rockland (TOR) bus.
The incident took place around 5 p.m. Saturday, June 30 on Bus #235 along Route 92, said John Lyon, spokesman for Rockland County Executive Ed Day.
The woman can be seen on a video posted by a user on Facebook yelling what Lyon described as "disgusting racial and ethnic epithets" at passengers on the bus, mixed with obscenities. At one point, she walked over to the person capturing the incident on video and shoved at the man's cell phone.
At approximately 4:56 pm, the bus driver called dispatch to report the situation and request law enforcement assistance. The Rockland County Sheriff’s Department and Orangetown Police Department responded to the incident near Route 303 and Route 340 in the town of Orangetown.
After exiting the bus, the disorderly passenger was placed under arrest by the Orangetown Police Department, Lyon said.
“The type of behavior displayed by this irate passenger is inexcusable,” said Day. “I applaud the bus driver, passengers and responding law enforcement for handling this situation as calmly as they did. Rockland County will not tolerate these types of divisions any longer. We all have much more in common than any superficial differences that appear to divide us.”
The Rockland County Executive’s Office and Commission on Human Rights have been in contact with the passenger who recorded and posted the videos to social media.
“The responses of all involved: law enforcement, bus employees, passengers and all of those on social media who commented or shared these videos clearly show that there is no place for this type of hate-filled speech in Rockland County,” Day said.
Orangetown Police, who did not release the woman's name because she was only charged with violations, had also dealt with the woman earlier in the day for the same type of conduct.
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