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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Woman temporarily banned from STA plaza after trying to stop bus

STA buses display a thank you on their reader sign, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016, after Proposition 1 was passed on Tueday evening. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Drew Gerber The Spokesman-Review

A woman has been banned from the Spokane Transit Authority plaza for 60 days after she tried to stop a bus late Wednesday night.

The transit officer on site received a call about an “unruly” passenger at about 11:05 p.m. Wednesday, where he found a woman who appeared agitated, according to an STA incident report.

The 32-year-old woman allegedly told the transit officer that the No. 94 Route bus had struck her while she was trying to remove her bike, and though the officer did not see obvious signs of injury – and the woman said she did not need medical help – the passenger repeatedly said she wanted to press charges, the report said.

The woman also later told a Spokane Police Department officer that she believed the bus driver was trying to kidnap her “significant other,” the man who placed the bike on the front of the bus, the report said.

The bus driver told the transit officer that the woman had been unable to provide payment, even though he had delayed his departure in order to give her time to do so, and he had asked her to leave the bus, the report said. At this point, the woman ran in front of the vehicle as the driver tried to pull away.

The driver was uncertain if the vehicle made contact with the woman, but STA video did not appear to show the woman sustaining any injuries, the incident report said.

The woman allegedly claimed during an interview with the transit officer that she was going to the hospital to seek medical care for two large scrapes on her knees, but paramedics from the Spokane Fire Department, who had been called to the scene, confirmed that the wounds were old. She also allegedly admitted to the Spokane police officer that the injuries were old and that she had not been hit by the bus, the report said.

A review of the video showed the woman was searching through her bags after disembarking from the bus, but once she saw it begin to pull away, she ran toward it and started to slap the bus, causing it to stop, said STA spokesman Brandon Rapez-Betty.

“The passenger’s actions not only jeopardized her own safety, but that of the driver and other passengers,” Rapez-Betty said.

The woman is banned from the STA plaza for 60 days, which is a standard response to a safety rule violation, he said.