WATCH ABOVE: A police officer from Georgia was caught on camera pepper spraying and wrestling a passenger after suspecting the rider didn’t pay his fare. Christopher King has the story.
A police officer in Atlanta was caught on camera pepper spraying and wrestling with a bus passenger after suspecting the rider didn’t pay his fare.
The incident took place on a crowded bus on Saturday around 10:30 p.m. The transit driver called police when he believed multiple riders had boarded the bus without paying. When the officer arrived, he got into an argument with one of the riders.
“You don’t know I didn’t pay, you don’t know,” said the passenger.
That’s when the officer began to pepper spray the alleged fare jumper.
“I literally was paralyzed with fear,” Cassandra Greene told CBS who recorded the altercation.
“This escalated into something that could’ve been potentially dangerous for every passenger on that bus that moment,” Greene said.
The two men began wrestling on the ground until they fell out of the bus.
“What was the purpose of pepper spraying him?… Why would you tackle him on the bus and wrestle him on the bus full of people and all the way out the door?” said Greene.
Other passengers on board weren’t happy either with the way the situation was handled and complained about their safety after being knocked out of the way during the fight.
Greene said riders offered to pay for the man but the driver and the officer refused to listen.
“For $2.50, don’t put a bunch of people’s lives in danger,” she said.
A police investigation is currently ongoing.
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