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Guy at center of MBTA bus ruckus says driver punched him, then pinned him to wall

Denies he attacked driver, Channel 5 reports.

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So he punched the kid and pinned him to the "wall" (on a bus?) and continued to drive the bus? hmmmm

Of course, this was mostly likely the one bus left on the system without 20 cameras on it?

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...was how one of the perps got trapped OUTSIDE a bus he "caused to crash". Ignoring the bit about who fought who, the MBTA account makes less sense.

Someone needs to do a "magic bullet"-style lampoon.

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Channel 5 just put a piece up:

Michael Baptista, 19, admitted that he caused the melee that ended when the MBTA bus crashed into a building at Hampden and Dudley Streets, but he said he had already exited the bus about 3:15 p.m. when the driver swerved to hit him.

That would explain things a little more.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/27514658/deta...

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with arms that long or he hit the driver and did a back flip under the bus. celts need a point guard.sign him up.lol haaaa

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Who was driving that bus, Cosmo Kramer?

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It was ralph cramden from the honeymooners. the perp was actualy going down the sewer to visit ralphs pal norton.

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All I know is if I jumped a bus driver after getting thrown off for smoking on the bus...I'd make up a cockamamie story about a psycho driver trying to run me over clearing all of my culpability in the process, too.

Let me posit this scenario:

Driver tells teens to stop smoking on his bus.

Teens call him names and keep smoking.

Driver calls for Transit Police and says he's not leaving the bus stop until the cops arrive or teens leave.

Teens pissed that they have to walk and choose to "leave the bus" intending to jump the driver instead.

They jump the driver and smash him head first into the front window. Bautista is happy with his work and starts to walk away before those cops arrive.

His friends continue the beating causing the driver to lose control of the bus and roll into Bautista.

Driver calls for medical and fire.

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All I know is if I jumped a bus driver after getting thrown off for smoking on the bus...I'd make up a cockamamie story about a psycho driver trying to run me over clearing all of my culpability in the process, too.

Right, in front of an entire busload of passengers? Maybe he really is that stupid, but he's been really upfront about his version of events...then again, you all did describe him in the video as grandstanding a bit...

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A 19-year old isn't exactly working with the most seasoned faculties yet. Hell, watch an episode of Celebrity Apprentice where Gary Busey is ON FILM doing something stupid and then when confronted with it later in a room full of people who were there when he did it, he simply bald-facedly denies it. He's not even creative about it. It's what children do when they don't have an alibi but want to get out of trouble. "No I didn't", "That wasn't me", "It was the other guy who started it"... This kid's story doesn't ring any differently.

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If you were possibly facing criminal charges ...

Also, there's some question as to whether the kid Channel 5 interviewed is, in fact, the kid who was pinned by the bus:

See this tweet and this one from a firefighter.

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I don't think even an MBTA employee is dumb enough to risk his cushy job by running over someone on purpose.

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thats a good reply. quote i dont think. lets see what happens alterboy. let it play out and then decide. but dont take thirty years lol was it i dont think i know. or was it i dont think long pause i know.

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Working as a bus driver is a cushy job? O RLY? The hours can be pretty terrible, and some routes are quite dangerous. They get little respect, they get physically attacked more often than people think (and spit on, yelled at,etc), and have the privilege of dealing with Boston drivers day in and day out. Of all the jobs at the T, I think everyone would agree its the worst of the lot. Just last year, they were losing one or 2 dozen drivers every month.

MBTA bus driving is not a "cushy job."

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For what they get paid yeah it's a cushy job.

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No, it's not.
A cushy job is cushy like a comfy chair.
Driving a bus in Boston might be considered well-paid by some but it's not cushy in any way.
I know bus drivers and I know know other people making ~ 55K and there's no f'ing comparison.
No crazy hours or crazy people or threat or actuality of VIOLENCE in any of the non-driving jobs.

Exact opposite of a cushy job- it's a tough gig.

I wouldn't do it for 100K

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dont know whose right or wrong. and the melo drama. the frnt of a bus is not much bigger than a telephone booth. like a small stair way you could have a 100 people wanting to fight you but only one could fight you at a time. unless they were pigmies little kids or midgets. like the 2 guys that were suppose to be fighting each other in a bathroom toilet on another bus. we have 10 people beating up a bus driver in a telephone booth. like i said not taking sides just making sense. a fist fight is one thing. but trying to run someone over with a bus is serious stuff. like i said not taking sides it will all come out. the t police should keep quiet. till it is all sorted out.

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The driver was constricted.
That's it.
If the rat pack of young males got off the back and then swarmed on the front anything can happen. And if they have a common goal they could be letting each other get their licks in.

I've seen it.

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I'm guessing Mr. Baptista was the individual shown on TV as he flailed his arms while being wheeled away in a stretcher, gesturing to the crowd, ranting, raving and generally looking for attention from a wider audience than just the paramedics treating him. Based on the video alone, I would question his character.

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Yeah, without audio, I couldn't tell if he was cheering the fact that they all helped beat down that bus driver until they caused mayhem or whether he was glad to be alive after being hit by a bus. But the whole waving and gesturing to his buddies waiting outside the police tape was suspect.

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The YouTube video of the aftermath isn't complimentary, either. It shows the guy hopping around on his injured leg (I do believe he was genuinely injured, from the way he was favoring it and from the visible damage to his pants) and screaming obscenities at the driver and anyone who tried to convince him to back away. Then his friends start trying to pry open the bus's rear door - yeah, not thinking they were particularly scared of the driver. If someone had just tried to smush me with a bus, I certainly wouldn't keep returning to the cramped space between the bus and the brick wall to scream threats at the driver.

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If someone had just tried to smush me with a bus, I certainly wouldn't keep returning to the cramped space between the bus and the brick wall to scream threats at the driver.

The Boondocks TV show called this phenomenon "a N***a Moment", but it's not limited to any particular skin color. You can see white guys banging chests and escalating conflict when more civilized people would be de-escalating. Just because you go back for more, doesn't mean you didn't get a first helping.

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he seems to me to be just a stupid know it all teenager like we all were.maybe more vilolent i cant say i cant read minds like you can. If you were not. give us your name and adress and we will all worship you every sunday.can i get an amen. based on your retort and running that video over and over again you have all the answers. but hold on you said you where guessing. lol.

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Maybe a bunch of trashy kids were acting up on the bus, then trashy kids scuffled with the bus driver, but the bus driver was also trashy, and rammed one of the kids.

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There must have been more than one victim outside the bus.

The video seems to mostly follow around the guy in a suit who does look like his foot had some sort of altercation with the bus. I'm guess this is notthe kid they eventually pulled out who was pinned. It isn't clear to me if suit guy is trying to get back into the bus with the idea of letting the bus driver know how displeased he is with the situation, or trying to get the bus to back off of the pinned kid.

Also hard to tell what is going on with the bus driver. Transcripts of his radio transmissions indicate that he believed he'd been knocked unconscious as some point. Perhaps some combination of suit guy trying to get the bus off the kid and/or trying to get to a clearly injured bus driver (after it occured to him that the driving-over-of-his-foot was not intentional? He does seem to calm down after the initial strings of F-Bombs...)

Looks like a lot of evidence for the authorities to go over. I just hope they're is some video from inside the bus to help identify the individuals the driver was having an issue with.

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Is the guy in the suit the same person who channel 5 interviewed?

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Appears to be. Sadly, the language these kids use is not different from the language used by the young'uns on the Orange Line every morning and evening. Thank goodness for iPods.

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Is the bus driver black? If so, the guy in the tie threatening to kill the "n*****" should face a civil rights charge, along with a charge of threatening to commit a crime (murder) and arguably intimidation of a witness, just as any Caucasian would for uttering the same words.

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O-FISH-L

You know there's a double standard at play when it comes to hate crimes. Look at that poor bastard at Dodgers Stadium. White guy gets jumped by two Latino gangbangers (who apparently do as they please at Dodger games) and nothing gets mentioned. It's much easier to just play the "he was a Giants fan" angle. But...if you reverse those roles, the press will be tenfold.

I feel bad for the good folks in Boston's black neighborhoods that are held hostage by the fools who take over their streets (regardless of how this crash started). Same old shit for 50 years now.

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This is a huge story in LA and nationally.
The focus is on the fan angle b/c that's the apparent motive for jumping the poor guy.
The group was harassed and attacked b/c they were wearing Giants gear.
Wouldn't have happened if they were in Dodger blue.
That's why this isn't a hate crime.

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