The Cleveland bus driver who was caught on video delivering a wicked winding uppercut on an unruly teenage female passenger has been fired for violating his company’s conduct policy, the media reports.
The Cleveland Regional Transit Authority told the media in a press conference Tuesday that Artis Hughes, 59, was terminated for walloping Shi’ Dea Lane after she allegedly hit and spit on him after an animated verbal altercation turned physical. The entire episode was caught on video and went viral overnight, making the driver and passenger cyberspace sensations and igniting intense national debate about women who get physical with men and the men who respond with violence.
For the record, Lane denies spitting or hitting on Hughes, according to her legal representation, says the Plain Dealer of Cleveland. But something triggered an instant and volcanic rage on the veteran bus driver that made him get out of his driver’s chair and punch Lane like she was a man, then drag her by her hair and throw her off the bus.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon outside the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268, Hughes and his representatives stated that a grievance against the firing would be filed.
Hughes was suspended from his post without pay after the video of his altercation with Lane surfaced online. The Cleveland city prosecutor charged the driver with assault and Lane with disorderly conduct.
Hughes said at the press conference that he felt betrayed by his employers and plans to fight the discharge from his duties.
“I feel let down,” he said. “I feel like they should support their drivers. I was just trying to do my job. … I’ve run over those events in my mind 1,000 times and I don’t know what I could have done differently.”
Some people adamantly disagree that bus driver Hughes had no other recourse than to strike the teenager. And no one disagrees with Hughes more than Lane, the woman on the receiving end of the jaw-altering uppercut.
For those who are not familiar with the violent punch heard around the world that ignited an internet inferno of angry responses and intense debates, check out the video below:
