Only cowards hit women!!

give this man a raise. she deserved every bit of it

This is so wrong on so many levels. There will be an investigation? This man has an out of control temper. He should not be near or around kids. Yes...kids are obnoxious at times but come on. Striking a kid unless it was to save another kid? Fire him now! This one reason why I have no respect for unions....

What a coward to hit a woman. So many other ways to handle an irate customer.

Kids can be obnoxious, but this was no child. she is an adult, 25 years old

If he would have grabbed her and removed her from the bus that would have been fine. You can't uppercut her, I don't care if she was obnoxious. Come on Man!

She should have kept her hands to herself...she stepped into a man's shoes and got what she deserved. I dont think he should be punished I think she should be. He didnt ask her to punch him first so I dont know why she's acting like the victim. I bet she will think twice before putting het hands on another man and if she doesn't she deserves everything she gets

Amen ariesbaby!

Throwing her off the bus would have been great, you can't hit her though. Know the rules bud.

I understand why he lost it. Drivers and other riders are sick of this nonsense. Personally, I hope he gets his job back.

http://beachwood.patch.com/articles/look-cleveland-rta-beachwood-police-reports-from-bus-driver-uppercut-incident#photo-11700187

We have an update about the incident - you can read what the driver and witnesses wrote in their statements to police here!

I would like to make a comment please. I think the better question here would be, what should this bus driver had done, other than hit her? I do not think that he should have hit her like the way that he did, you know maybe hit her in the shoulder to let her know he meant it and to get her attention. People are not intended to be other peoples verbal punching bags, so I feel for the bus driver. I would hope that this bus driver or others can feel that they can call the cops and that the cops will give that lady a disorderly conduct ticket. If this is known to everyone, I do not think he would have hit her, see? God bless.

At no point did this bus driver deserve to be threatened, harassed, grabbed, hit, spit on, and all while trying to keep a bus full of passengers on the road.

Drunk girl might think twice next time before she threatens, hits, spit, etc.

Good for him. No one deserves to be treated the way he was treated for simply doing his job.

This man should be fired and face criminal charges. There is no reason for him to have assaulted that woman like that. The first mistake he made was exchanging conversation with her in an unprofessional manner. The second mistake he made was allowing his emotions to over power him as to think that he could land a punch on this woman as if he was fighting a man his own size. The woman is still at fault and he should have demanded she get off the bus or he should have pulled over and called the police. Comparing a shove that a woman who is weaker to an uppercut from a man who is not only twice her size. Is unacceptable. He mother or absent father neglected to tell him. He could have restrained her if she got out of hand but she could not have restrained him. And might I say how sad it is that the black community can actually validate the assault of a woman by a man. And people wonder why we have lost so much hope in our black man. Imagine if this was your daughter, mother or sister. He was wrong.

As someone who rides many lines on the RTA Service routes, and uses RTA virtually every day and at all time of the day and night, I can attest that the Drivers are often subjected to a significant amount of abuse from riders - verbal and, in some cases, physical. While the majority of my rides have, thankfully, been incident-free, there have been occasions where a rider or riders are clearly out of control from the moment they step on the bus, whether it be from drink, drugs, or when they have an interpersonal altercatinon with another rider or they are screaming obsenities at someone over their cell phones. I see little or no evidence of transit police except, on rare occasions, when they sweep through buses or Rapid Transit cars in search of fare violators. What is their average response time if a Driver or other passenger has the ability/opportunity to call them?

Drivers are hired and paid to drive safely, first and foremost. And, if RTA statements are to be believed, we have some of the safest drivers in the country. They should not be forced into having to police or otherwise control the bad behavior of a few troublemakers.

I just watched the video and she did instigate, she did attacked first, she did get physically in the face of the driver and started. I side with the bus driver on this issue. The video is not showing how the entire verbal argument started. I been on the bus where the passengers will go out of their way to start with the driver. I do think it was wrong for him to get up and give her an uppercut, however she did start the physical fight first, and can be argued that by doing so she endangered everyone riding that bus, as we dont know if the bus was in motion or not at the time. I know I'm going to piss people off for saying this, but I'll have to side with the driver. I would have been another story if she did not get in the driver's face, but exactly like the driver said, if she wants to fight like a man, then fight like a man.

She assaulted him and wasn't going to stop. We all know men shouldn't hit women but I know being a women myself, I would never step up to a man like that unless I wanted to be treated like one back. She was clearly out of control.

wow what a hit she deserved what she got, If you do not want to be hit do not hit others

PLUS: He was driving the bus while she was hitting him. I ride the bus everyday to work ... if that had happened on my bus, and my life was in serious danger because some girl doesn't want to pay her fare and goes to hit the bus driver WHILE HE'S DRIVING - then, damn, I probably would've helped him throw her off the bus.

down goes frazier

She started it ,she abused him,then she pushed him and that is ASSUALT and he has the right to defend himself , I agree with the man if she wants to act like a man then expect to be treated like one, she got what she deserves,next time she will learn to treatr people with respect and not abuse and hit people and expect to get away BECAUSE "I'm a WOMAN"

She should have paved her fare and sat her behind down . If the driver had lost control of that bus due to her hitting him. The passengers and public would care less about him hitting a female. Shame on everyone on that bus for taking time to video the fight instead of trying to stop it. You would think it was a school bus.

She deserved it

She def deserved it

Let me make sure I understand the "Poll Question", first.

Does it read, "Is it OK to hit women?"

Public servants are schooled for this type of events.
He know the protocol, restraint if anything not upper cut.
They are both at fault for such behaviors.
Counseling and probationfor both to make sure this does not happen again.
What a sick display of humanity!

It seems to me that there must be a protocol for bus drivers who find themselves in a situation like this. viewing the video,I noticed that he was engaging rather than diffusing the problem. Why not just call the police without all the back and forth.Was it more important for him to keep up the ignorance? At 59 you should have better sense, especially when you choose to work in a profession where there may be unruly people. She was wrong but he had a professional responsibility to follow a protocol that I am certain is in place for this type of thing. Shame on them both.

Any bus drivers in this forum? He over-reacted; but whew- can you blame him? And what about that uppercut- that's somebody no one at the bus hub is going to mess with- how do you even get any practice on doing something like that- I'd miss or break my wrist. I hope he get's his job back....and some anger management/dealing with customers training. Be grateful for this city that this was not any issue that involved race or the media would be all over the city- which would be good for the local economy for the news crews to setup shop in our hotels here for a few weeks- but not good for our city! I hope the lady learned a lesson- but it seems from a distance that that is not likely.

A person working directly with people as bus drivers do should not hit or harm their customers no matter how difficult their behavior is. He eventually called police; why did he not call them earlier? He was also arguing with her and threatening to send his granddaughter after her (only further inciting a person under the influence). He probably had similar altercations in his past? How did he stay there 22 years with such compulsively violent behavior? They might want to give him a job with less responsibility and liability answering phones or clerical work. Our county taxes are paying for his job; we deserve better!!!

The media is having fun with this one!...I don't condone a man hitting a woman...but,I do believe in self defense!!..If the entire video was shown...everyone would see the "victim"...was actually the "aggressor"!!...She started the mess...and he ultimately "finished it"....Not before he was threatened,spat on,and hit!!...He dealt with her "mess" for too long.For those of you saying,"He could have done something else."...What would you have done?..He called for back up...I don't feel sorry for anyone,except Mr.Hughes!!..and I pray RTA doesn't remove this MAN from his employment of 22 yrs because of him "defending" himself from a 25 yr old KID!!....

I am so ASHAMED of human beings right now reading these posts. What is this world coming to??? More & more often I hear men AND women DEFENDING & JUSTIFYING men hitting women. It sickens me. Leave your excuses back where you left your morals ; MEN SHOULD NOT HIT WOMEN,FOR ANY REASON,UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER. PERIOD. End of story. Should we be debating under what circumstances it is acceptable for an adult to uppercut a child??? NO. Will we if this kind of acceptance for this disgusting behavior continues? Probably. I feel sick.

A comment was deleted for a personal attack. It might be wise to take a look at the Terms of Use. http://westlake.patch.com/terms

At least he wasn't one of the "law abiding citizens" with a concealed ignorance permit, err concealed weapons permit. One of them could have felt "threatened" and pulled out a loaded gun. Imagine us bickering in the comment section about a death caused by angry ignorance versus a woman getting decked by a pissed off bus driver. I'd rather see this than a fatal bullet wound any day.

I think he definately overreacted but I don't think he deserves to be punished further. The young lady didnt deserve to be hit but she over stepped her boundaries....plus she was not supposed to even be on the bus because she didn't pay.

One more reason not to ride the RTA.

I would like to ask you all a question please. Where could the bus driver go to avoid being harassed by this lady? Was the bus driver able to call the cops? If he did call the cops, then what would have happened? How long and to what extent was she going to continue to harass this driver? Was anybody helping this driver? What would you do if you were the driver? What would you do if you where the lady? What would you do if you were a passenger, witness? I say that this is a perfect example on why cops should give out more disorderly conduct tickets to these types of people. Then and only then will this stuff stop. God bless.

My answer to the question is yes. The driver was taking verbal abuse from the time the female got on the bus. He asked her to stand behind the yellow line. So with that being said she had no intentions on leaving the driver alone. Not only did she jot respect her elders she didn't respect herself as a young woman or the other passengers. Then she proceeded to assault the driver that's when he had enough. The thing that bothers me is that after the driver hit her with a street fighter Ken uppercut the other passengers acknowledged she was a female but all the while it was funny and no one intervened. It's just a sad situation because both were assaulted but the man is wrong because this woman wasn't raised to respect other people. That's why you should not have premarital sex and raise your children to respect others and this type of stuff wouldn't happen.

He should be suspended and brought back to his regular position as driver after he attends anger management classes and then retrained on how to handle these types of situations. His suspension should be for getting out of the seat and cold cocking the girl. He is only human and should not be fired bit he should serve suspension time added to his case. I'm on his side but it is what it is. Premeditated he knew he was gonna hit her after she hit him and walked away. He walked her down and became the aggressor. Sad day for the Cleveland rta system. They need cops on these routes at all times.

She should get a felony

She was out of hand and ignorant to use profanity etc. But the major question to me is, why didn't anyone else stop it? They just laughed and did nothing, its a sad thing. He should have said, you get off my bus now and call 911.

Two comments were deleted for the use of profanity. If yours was, please feel free to post your thoughts again - leaving out those choice words. Thanks, folks!

This is not a male/female problem; this is a problem of the RTA not training their personnel in how to deal with difficult people; in this case a "person under the inflluence". In the video I heard on TV the driver egged her on by stating that he would get his granddaughter to come after her. He should have said nothing to her; let her come on the bus; call the police who would escort her off and cite her. Instead he ruined the day for the people on the bus; the noteriety from his low knowledge reaction will deter enough people from riding the RTA to eliminate more than one position. Come-on Cleveland? We can do better.

@kimberly, this man is a coward. No reason for a man to ever hit a woman. You can't fight everyone who hurts your feelings. Everyone had there own iphone and not everyone is blessed to be in ever right mind. But this mans responsibility with his job is to ensurethe safety of all his passengers is held. He failed. He should lose his job. The years he invested with this company obviously ment nothing. Because he just like this woman is not capable of acting like a responsible adult.

I was brought up to never hit girls. Maybe that's because I have two older sisters.

But since that *is* how I was brought up, if I was in that driver's shoes, I would have realized I need a solution that wouldn't end up with me punching a woman.

Stopping the bus until the police arrived would have been my approach, along with not encouraging her behavior.

He engaged a hood rat with his hood thug mentality and jeopardized a 22 year career all because of his hood thug violent mentality. RTA compensating this behavior will set a precedence to have all drivers behaving as if they are the wild wild west. He should be FIRED!!

She deserved it. He should not lose his job. I know out of his 22 years of working for RTA he has come across some disrespectful idiot's! He hit her real good! LMAO!

Somebody spit on me, they might as well get my 3 hots and a cot ready! Enough is enough!

As a person who is in control of the situation he was out of line. He should never had engaged himself in her stupid behavior. I am sure if he would have followed protocol and stopped the bus, rather than continue to take his eyes off the road to wrgue with her, and call the police or use his emergency button this situation would have turned out differently. He is a public servant, our tax dollars pay his salary, and he was totally out of line. If a police officer of some other public figure did this people would be up in arms claiming police brutality or what not. As the driver of the bus, and an employee of RTA, he did not do the right thing.

As for her endangering the other passengers, he endangered them more. All he had to do was stop the bus and radio for help. Instead he continued to drive and take his eyes off the road. Further more, he had no idea what she was capable of. What would have happened if she had a gun and decided to start shooting up the bus...do you think his antagonizing her helped the situation at all? If he had kept his mouth shut, rather than engage and antagonize her, I am sure it would not have escalated to this point. He is as guilty as her and I would not feel comfortable being his passenger.

Also, don't blame the RTA. They train their drivers; he just didn;t follow protocol and, after driving for 22 years, to say nothing about living 60+ years, he should have known better.

Also, it's appalling that people find any humor in this. I am ashamed of mankind for the responses and jokes that have been made. Let's not even mention the fact that people used their cell phones to record the incident, rather than call the police.

Unless you've been physically attacked, it's difficult to know how you might really react. Wait for the police ? And continue to allow someone to hit you as you wait ? Take blow after blow and give the attacker a free pass because she's a female ? As I've stated, I too was raised to never hit a female. But I will never agree that my upbringing automatically allows me to be a victim or a casualty. If you physically attack me, all bets and rules are off.

As much as I can tell, yes. He certainly had no business operating the bus while this was going on. Stopping immediately should have been the first move. Physically removing her from the bus would be the second. If she assaulted me during that time, then the "removal" process may have gone to a self defense/removal operation.

Again, let me emphasize my aversion to striking a woman. It flies in the face of what I've been raised to believe is right. And every reasonable effort must be made to avoid that from happening. But (there's ALWAYS a "but"), when you are being physically assaulted, self defense may be required regardless of your attackers anatomy.

I've deleted several more comments for profanity. You can read our terms of services here - http://beachwood.patch.com/terms - but essentially, we don't allow curse words or curse words with letters replaced with special characters.

Let's keep it clean, folks.

This is all just really sad to me. I don't condone violence from any gender. Never would I ever think to disrepect anyone let alone my elder the way this woman did. They have a 34 year age difference between them, he deserves to be treated with respect. If she was not happy with how he treated her for not having her fare, then she should have gotten off the bus, and waited for next bus, contacted his supervisor and lodge a complaint. That's how grown people would handle the situation. Whether under the influence or not, she was a bully. Respect for another human being means not touching them in violence. No one knows how far she would take the situation, already she used her spit as a weapon to assult him. So many viruses from body fluids, such as Hepititus and TB. She should be charged with assult just for spitting alone. I hope he doesn't lose his job, he is very close to retirement and he most likely earned his pension having been on the job for 22 plus years. I just don't understand how society can condone violence by a woman to a man so easily. We'll sympathize when women defend themselves agaisnt a man that is violent towards her but we shunn a man when he does the same. Clearly, this woman was not a victim in this situation and the man was old enough to be her elderly father. If she treats a total stranger in this manner in front of a bus full of strangers, I wonder how she treats her friends and family.

I am a 22yrold Cleveland resident. As a full time student at CleveState university a part time military police officer in the OhNational Guard and also part time customer service representative the last thing I want to deal with while working and trying to further my education is to run into people like Shidea Lane. I do use the RTA as a form of transportation and it is not fair I now have to fear for my safety while riding. If Mr. Artis Hughes loses his job he's held for the past 22 years do to the ignorance of Miss Lane it will show it is ok to abuse RTA staff and open up the door for others to do so. She not only put a lot of peoples lives in danger by compromising the drivers concentration but also caused people like me who have multiple commitments to either run late or miss them all together. I know there were several other ways Mr. Hughes could have addressed this situation but when someone pushes the way Miss Lane did once that line is crossed by the other party you may not choose the best response to them. And now after the incident She is bragging all over social media sites about how much money she's going to receive for this not about how much he "hurt" her or any injuries for the incident only about money? People like her make it hard for anyone with good intentions to live in this world today. I'm sure Mr. Hughes is not a saint but I'm also sure he did not wake up that morning after 22 years of employment and decide he was going to do what he did to Miss Lane.

People keep saying he should have handled things differently but let's see she crossed the yellow line put her hands on him spit on him knocked his phone out of his hand as he tried to call the police and continued to spew obscenities WHILE THE BUS FULL OF OTHER PASSENGERS WAS MOVING. Even after the punch and being thrown off the bus she kept coming back. What else was this man supposed to do. This woman was clearly behaving like a rabid dog !!! Had he called the police initially she still would've attacked, had he physically thrown her off the bus initially, she still would've attacked. What else was there to do beyond subduing her forcefully.

I would like to add, I agree fully with those of you who stated that he shouldn't have responded to her verbally, since that only added fuel to the flame. I agree with the suspension for the dialogue but not for the man being fired. Under no circumstance should a passenger invade a bus drivers personal space once that happened I feel it was self defense.

I say investigate she was totally out of control. She needs jail time he needs self control.

I think that the bus driver should not be fired, but I do think that he needs to be off work long enough to realize that a man should never put his hands on a woman. Now the lady did deserve to be punished for putting her hands on him and egging him on. She was in the wrong from the beginning.

I think he had every right to hit her. If your going to act like a man, be prepared to be dealt with like a man. It's easier for someone to tell him what he could of done differently. But the fact of the matter is you were not there, If any woman got in my face spit on me, punched me, and chocked me, best believe I would get up and hit her back. We're in a day and age when men and women should be considered equal. The reason it seems like a disgrace to hit a woman comes from past views of women being weaker and inferior gender. So if you want to be treated as an equal, you can be, you just cant pick and choose when you want to be treated equally. Also the passengers of that stood back, cheered her on, took the video and then say you can't hit a woman like that. That is not a woman that is a low life person who tries to scan the system for a ride. I am 99% sure that is not the first time she tried to do that. The passengers should have been smarter and tried to get her away. She deserved everything she got. As for the driver he should be allowed to go to work again.

I fully agree with Charles, and lots of other ones above. I think the driver shall be given a raise for being so overprotective of his honest earning job. She endangered all the passengers, and maybe if he didn't try, and the filthy "gangsta" pretending so-called woman would have jumped on him and as a result people would gotten injured, I wonder what the thoughts of other people would be then. The only thing the driver should have done differently is give her another punch and fully neutralize the hazard.