Battered Bus Driver Speaks Out As Union Calls For More Protection

By: Tina Redwine

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After she was violently assaulted Tuesday night, bus driver Marlene Bien-Aime spoke to reporters Wednesday as union leaders called for the MTA to work faster on developing protective measures for drivers. NY1's Tina Redwine filed the following report.

“I still have a lot of pain, and my head is really hurting,” said driver Marlene Bien-Aime, who was violently assaulted Tuesday after disallowing a passenger from bringing an uncaged Chihuahua onboard her Bx9 bus.

Her eye blackened, her body bruised, Bien-Aime said she never saw it coming.

“She hit me several times in my eyes, as you could see,” said Bien-Aime. “And she hit me all over, on my head and on my back… She dragged me from my hair. My nose is broken.”

Bien-Aime said her bus was stopped around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Third Avenue and East Fordham Road.

She and her attacker tumbled to the street, but Good Samaritans stepped in to restrain the woman until police arrived.

“Somebody else come and help me,” said Bien-Aime. “I don't know who it is, but by then I couldn't see.”

The injured driver was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital to be treated for her injuries.

Steangeli Medina, 17, was arrested and charged with serious assault, harassment and menacing.

Officials from the Metropolitan Transit Authority say 29 drivers have been assaulted so far this year. Meanwhile, union representatives say the number is far higher because the MTA does not include spitting as an assault.

However, both the agency and the union are working on a solution: a protective shield that would be installed between drivers and their passengers. Union representatives say the MTA is dragging its feet.

“We worked about improving the vandal shields on the buses, and back in the summertime last year, we give the okay to have this particular shield on all the RTS buses,” said Earl Phillips, secretary-treasurer of TWU 100. “Somehow the transit authority is delaying that.”

MTA officials say developing the right shield is a challenge but that they've been installed on five buses in a pilot program and 100 more are on order to help protect drivers from their passengers.