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By Kyle B. Hansen (contact) 
, Mary Manning
Published Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 | 5:16 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 | 6:52 p.m.
Alfred Setian
A contract Regional Transportation Commission paratransit driver is accused of attacking a woman on Tuesday, striking her in the face, and was arrested by North Las Vegas Police.
The RTC offers paratransit bus service to the disabled and the 67-year-old woman was riding at about 12:39 p.m. Tuesday from her home to the Doolittle Senior Center, police said.
The woman questioned whether the bus driver knew the way to the Doolittle Senior Center on J Street and was on her cell phone talking to the RTC when the driver pulled the bus over in the 300 block of Carey Avenue, police said. He told the woman to get out, and she refused to leave the bus.
The woman then dialed 911 and the bus driver allegedly came back to her seat and struck her in the face, police said. He then allegedly grabbed her cell phone, threw it at her and struck her in the face again. The cell phone fell to the floor of the bus and broke, police said.
After reviewing videotape of the incident from the bus, North Las Vegas officers arrested Alfred Setian, who worked 10 years for First Transit Company and wasn't directly employed by the RTC. He is charged with battery and faces a more severe charge because a senior citizen was involved. The company fired him this afternoon, a spokeswoman said.
The company also apologized for the incident.
The injured woman was treated on the scene by paramedics and is fine, police said.
Tuesday’s incident was not mentioned in the RTC board’s regular meeting Thursday morning, but other passengers were on hand to complain about their own problems with the commission’s paratransit service.
Marsha Herbert has taken it upon herself to become a volunteer advocate for both passengers and drivers and has often spoken to the board about problems with the system.
Herbert said she has never before heard of a driver punching a passenger, but said it is not uncommon for passengers to have problems with rude drivers.
“There are often instances of that, especially of drivers not knowing their way around,” she said after hearing about the attack later Thursday.
“We have drivers that don’t know where they are going, can’t find their way around and so are often late,” she said.
Herbert, who gets 10 to 15 calls each week from passengers and drivers, said she was surprised to hear that the alleged attack involved an experienced driver.
Most of the complaints she receives from passengers involve new drivers that she believes were not properly trained and most physical attacks she hears about are passengers assaulting drivers or other passengers.
“I am surprised about the punching,” she said, “99 percent of our long-term drivers are wonderful.”
And those drivers are under a lot of stress and pressure, especially from passengers who can be disruptive and sometimes abusive, she said.
Also at Thursday’s meeting, Carol Medeiros told the commission that she recently had an experience where a driver did not know where he was going and actually asked her for directions.
Medeiros also said she had problems with drivers not helping her get safely on the bus and has been verbally harassed by both passengers and drivers.
After speaking with bus drivers while taking the bus to the airport, I'm not surprised that a driver might crack. The RTC hires companies to drive their buses that pay terrible wages and few benefits. In this desperate economy, people take the $10-12 dollar jobs anyway. And don't think their job is not stressful. All the while, RTC pulls the "Who knew? act. Without a doubt, the worst transportation company I have ever encountered....
at least she was not attacked by a chimpanzee
He must be a former cab driver.
Is this guy related to Raiders Coach Tom Cable, or just showing off his die hard Raiderness ?...
At least the bus driver wasn't naked and 375 lbs like that one guy was on the Oakland-Las Vegas flight on Southwest Airlines back in September.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.... you can even ask OJ.
Im glad I dont drive a school bus for angry seniors. I wouldn't want to work anywhere where the normal day would have been a senior attacking a senior. These old people sound meaner then the gangstas I used to ride the bus with.
Wow..... I have to forward this story to my ex who's a City Metro Driver back home in the Midwest. He tells me all the things that happen to him picking up folks in certain neighborhoods -- being hit in the face when the young man couldn't pay the fare. So this I'm sure he would relate to for he shares with me how he hates driving these days at his age - How he wish he could knock the hell out of many on a daily basis - But I could never imagine a man doing such to an elderly woman who asked for help rather she was on the phone or not. Now I can' imagine this happening to a kid but an adult woman -- Come on- She should have kicked him in the balls. Firing him was the right thing and hopefully he'll pay for what he did that that lady. People in Vegas seem to be losing rapidly -- I think that's a sign for me to take my you know what back to the Midwest.
maybe she told him not to take the tunnel...
Did she punch back? Looks like he has a shiner.
All I can say is that this driver POS is lucky that it wasn't my mother he punched because he would have a lot more problems than just unemployment right now...
blaming the victim-typical. working with the public can be a challenge so don't take on the challenge if you don't have the patience. Many jobs teach techniques on how to work with rude ppl--such as repeat their complaints to them in a calm manner. what I do is become increasingly nice the ruder the public is, it always works.
first ppl condemn violent acts, then in the same breath they condone violent acts to rude ppl. I guess that's why adults cannot figure out how to solve problems without war
Having worked with senior citizens in the past doing respiratory work I can tell you some of them can be angels and some can be jackasses. That being said you don't get violent with them,Period! The elderly can have complex issues that can effect attitudes beyond their control.The driver of the vehicle should have pulled over and took a moment to regroup if the woman got on his nerves.
This was a paratransit bus meaning the elderly woman was disabled.
This kind of stuff happens all the time on RTC buses. The public just isn't aware of it.
Mayor Oscar Goodman is Vice-Chair and Larry Brown is chairman of the RTC and encourages the bus drivers to be mean to the homeless and poor.
In the dead of winter they run with the air conditioners on.
They dump people off where they want to dump them, not where the passenger wants to go.
The drivers are often rude, mean, dangerous and racists.
Signs on the buses warn that it is a felony to attack a bus driver. Now we need to put signs up that say it is a felony for drivers to attack passengers.
The Downtown Transportation Center has had all vending machines removed, no soap dispensers, soap or hand dryers in the outside men's room and armed security guards with K-9 dogs patrol the grounds harassing the homeless and poor.
This driver should spend the rest of his life in prison. If it weren't for the video tape, the old lady would have been the one arrested.
Just another failure Goodman is tied in with.
Kick Goodman and Larry Brown out of there and sue the city and county for millions and millions and end this atrocity against the poor citizens of our community.