(Newser)
– An Asian-American bus driver was trying to impose a mask requirement when he was hit with a wooden bat, according to San Francisco police. The San Francisco Municipal Railroad (Muni) driver had asked three passengers, possibly teenagers, to leave the bus when one allegedly spat on the driver and hit him multiple times with a miniature baseball bat, according to the guardian. Police representative Robert Rueca says a preliminary investigation into the assault last Wednesday “did not indicate race was a factor,” according to NBC News. However, the unidentified driver tells the guardian that the youth referred to their race, and one claimed that it was likely that they had the coronavirus. The driver says the men initially complied with his request to put on masks hanging from his chins, but they removed the covers from their faces as soon as the bus started.
When the men finally got out, one of the group opened a panel on the side of the bus, says the driver. When the driver got out, the man allegedly spat on him, hit him twice with the bat, and hit him twice in the face. “I keep thinking to myself: That bat he took out of his backpack could easily have been a weapon,” says the driver, who suffered a broken finger. Police say the men fled “in an unknown direction.” No arrests have been made. The president of the union representing Muni drivers says they have had to endure verbal assaults and racial slurs “on a daily basis” during the pandemic, according to the guardian. Urge the public to support operators in any way they can. However, the driver describes a recent verbal assault that includes racial slurs against two Asian-American passengers who attempted to help him enforce the mask rule. (He is not the first bus driver to be attacked.)
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