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Bus Rider Who Punched Driver: "She Drives Slow on Purpose"
By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 9, 2010
Modified Dec 9, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Dec 9, 2010
Modified Dec 9, 2010
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It takes the patience of a saint sometimes to ride the MTA's buses, and not all New Yorkers are saints. Take, for instance, Coney Island's Alicea Diaz, a 25-year-old waitress who's charged with assault, menacing, harassment and criminal mischief for a fight that broke out between her and the driver of the B82 Limited, which runs between Coney Island and Canarsie. Diaz and the driver, 60-year-old Jacqueline Benjamin, have different accounts of what sparked the altercation, but Diaz says one thing can't be disputed: Benjamin "drives slow on purpose."
Diaz tells the Post she's tired of being late for work because of the B82 Limited (which didn't make the shortlist of this year's Pokey Awards), but she claims that's not why she got into a row with the driver on Tuesday afternoon. Diaz says she criticized Benjamin for not helping a handicapped rider, and then Benjamin retaliated by driving at about 5 mph. (Isn't that pretty fast for a bus, though?) And then when she was exiting the bus, Benjamin called her a "dumb ho," and grabbed her hoodie as she tried to leave, Diaz says.
But according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Post, Diaz "repeatedly punched" Benjamin in the face "with a closed fist" and broke her glasses on Tuesday afternoon in Bensonhurst, according to the criminal complaint. And Benjamin, a 19-year MTA veteran, says, "She thought she'd punch me and then get off at her stop." Attacking an MTA employee is a felony, and Diaz could face prison time if convicted. After the fatal stabbing of a bus driver in 2008, the MTA started testing out partitions to protect drivers, but so far very few buses have them.
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b82
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coney island
MTA
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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