Video appears to show MTA bus driver spit on passenger in Brooklyn
CLINTON HILL, Brooklyn (WABC) -- The MTA is investigating after video appears to show one of its bus drivers spitting on a woman in Brooklyn.
The incident took place Saturday evening near Ashland Place and Fulton Street in Clinton Hill.
The driver and 31-year-old mother Sapphire Philip had apparently gotten into an argument about her stroller.
Philip says she had been out shopping with her two daughters and bought a new stroller for her 2-year-old when she could not figure out how to fold the stroller while trying to get on the B25 bus.
"I told the driver as I was getting on the bus, I don't know how to close the stroller," Philip said.
Philip says she kept trying and took out the manual for the stroller, which turned into an exchange of harsh words between her and the driver, so he ordered everyone off the bus.
A photo Eyewitness News obtained apparently shows the stroller blocking the rear exit. Philip and her daughters were the last to leave the bus.
The video shows the driver then run out of his bus and approach the woman.
"That's when spit landed on my face," she said. "I heard yelling. When I turned around, he spit in my face and he ran back to the bus."
Philip says the driver was saying hurtful things to her.
"He was talking about baby father, 'You need to tell your baby father to get you a car. You don't need to be on my bus,'" she said.
The MTA released the following statement:
"The bus operator depicted in this disturbing video is being held out of service while we conduct an investigation and we encourage anyone with information to contact us."
Philip admits she said things she now regrets, but is planning to sue the MTA after the spitting incident.
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