Fight Between MTA Bus Driver, Teen Caught on Tape

A confrontation between an MTA bus driver and a teen who wanted a free ride escalated quickly into a brawl Tuesday morning, cellphone video captured by a passenger shows.

The 16-year-old boy got on the Q112 bus at Guy Brewer Boulevard and Archer Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, and apparently asked to ride for free because he'd forgotten his student MetroCard, according to the passenger who filmed the altercation and posted it to YouTube.

"The bus driver wasn't having it," the woman wrote on the video page, saying it "escalated so fast."

The video starts with the teen and the driver arguing, and the teen says: "If I was a grown man, you wouldn't be doing this."

The driver retorts: "If you was a grown man, you would have paid your ... fare."

As passengers grow visibly frustrated -- the woman recording the video is heard saying she has to get to work -- the teen announces he would not be getting off the bus because the driver had touched him, though no physical altercation was captured on video at that point.

"You call the cops, tell them I put my hands on you," the driver says. "You think I owe you something?"

The teen appears to antagonize the driver, telling him, "Who are you? Your bus company does not care about you, sir... You feel like you're Superman."

The driver says, "I've been here 25 years, you ain't even 25 years old. I'm telling you right now, you're not riding. You're not riding on this bus."

The teen stays on the bus, saying, "I didn't say nothing to you, you put your hands on me. I asked for a ride and you got in my face."

"And I told you no," the driver says.

Finally, the driver gets up from his seat and tries to physically grab the boy and push him off the bus. The two get into a shoving match, at which point the cellphone video ends.

Police said the boy was then removed from the bus and that he was arrested after allegedly throwing a garbage can through a bus window. He was charged with criminal mischief.

The MTA said in a statement, "Bus operators are instructed to avoid any type of altercation in cases involving fare evasion. The incident is under investigation."

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