A Brooklyn bus driver was arrested Tuesday after he beat up a passenger who spit at him in an argument over the fare, police sources said.
The 42-year-old bus operator was charged with misdemeanor assault.
Sources said the dispute erupted after the passenger, a 23-year-old man, hopped aboard the bus at the Kings Plaza shopping center with an empty MetroCard. When the driver told him to get off the vehicle, the rider refused, sources said.
At some point, another passenger used his MetroCard to pay the man’s fare and end the argument.
But when the bus stopped at Avenue H and Nostrand Ave. the 23-year-old spat at the driver twice and got off, sources said.
The driver followed the man off the bus and allegedly assaulted him.
In October, Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx) introduced legislation mandating all buses have protective partitions for drivers.
Fewer than 15% of the MTA’s 4,600 fleet of local buses have shields, and only 662 buses have surveillance cameras, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said at the time.
There have been at least 71 felony assaults against bus drivers this year.
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