PORTLAND, Ore. -- TriMet has placed a driver on leave, effective immediately, after a mother and her crying baby were kicked off a bus Thursday night.
Fellow passenger Jennifer Chapman says the incident occurred Thursday night on bus line 57 while the bus was traveling through Hillsboro.
"T
he baby was fussing, crying, the mom was rocking her, and shushing her, trying to help her out," Chapman said.
She told KOIN the female bus driver was not happy when the baby would not stop crying, so she scolded the woman over the speaker system.
That driver was placed on administrative leave Monday afternoon, according to TriMet's Mary Fetsch. Fetsch says TriMet policy is to pull over if there is a "safety issue" and call for help. Fetsch said it was unclear if there was even a safety issue in this case.
According to Chapman, when the baby still would not stop crying, the driver got up, went to the back of the bus, and had words with the mother, who spoke little English.
Chapman says the mother then got up and got off the bus, well before her intended stop.
"I said, 'you can't kick a woman and her baby off at night in the middle of Hillsboro. It's not right,'" Chapman said.
Chapman says the bus driver then informed passengers that anyone who didn't like it, could also get off the bus, which is exactly what Chapman and the other passengers did.
Chapman says some passengers told her this wasn't the first time they had seen this bus driver be verbally abusive to a Hispanic mother. Chapman and the other passengers stood with the mom and her baby and waited for the next bus.
"The next bus driver's jaw just dropped when she saw a whole bus load of people standing there. She said, 'what happened?' Someone told her, and she said, 'well, come on, standing room only,'" Chapman said.
On Monday, Fetsch said they received a half-dozen complaints about the incident, and most of those complaints were from passengers on the bus. A fellow TriMet bus driver named Al blogged about the incident and posted the transcript of the dispatch call right after it happened. TriMet confirms the transcript is accurate.
Chapman has strong feelings about what happened.
"I think she (the driver) shouldn't be driving buses. If she can't drive a bus with a fussy kid, she can't handle when people are questioning her judgment. (If she) couldn't handle it professionally, well, I think she's in the wrong job," Chapman said.
