Trial in Bus Assault Case Continued to January 19

Local 100 President John Samuelsen talks about the assault on Marlene Bien-Aime as Union members look on.
Local 100 President John Samuelsen talks about the assault on Marlene Bien-Aime as Union members look on.

NOVEMBER 3 -- Justice was deferred in the Bronx this morning, when Judge Ann M. Donnelly gave defense counsel the time to file additional motions in the case of Steangeli Medina. Medina was charged with assault in the beating of Bus Operator Marlene Bien-Aime on June 22, 2011.

The fourth floor of the Bronx County Criminal Court, was crowded with Bus Operators and other TWU Local 100 members, who filled the courtroom to capacity and spilled out into the hallway in support of fellow TWU Local 100 member Bien-Aime. In spite of the overwhelming show of support, the Judge postponed the legal proceedings until January 19, 2012. Prosecutors offered to let Medina plead to one count of assault in the second degree, with a sentence of six months jail time, five years probation, anger management counseling, conditioned on the waiver of Medina’s right to appeal the sentence.

The prosecution also included a permanent order of protection to be put in place for Bien-Aime. As a result of the assault, Bien-Aime was hospitalized with a black eye, facial cuts, and chest injuries. She has not been back to work and the assault, which damaged her vision, may have ended her career as a Bus Operator.

IB ImageThe plea was not accepted today and the offer may not stay on the table. Outside the courtroom, Local 100 President John Samuelsen angrily told news reporters that “if an MTA Bus Operator had assaulted someone to the same degree, he or she would be facing significant jail time. We want maximum sentences to get these criminals off the streets behind bars where they can’t hurt anyone else.

Three Bus Operators are getting assaulted each week. If three judges were getting assaulted each week, they would be sending out the National Guard. It has to end. The MTA has to work with the union and with the criminal justice system to stop the assaults. These criminals need to be prosecuted as felons.” President Samuelsen called the lack of felony prosecutions of persons who assault transit workers “a pervasive problem” and added that “laws are not being enforced.”

Samuelsen called for an increase in uniformed police presence on buses. “They’re tough on fare beaters on the select buses, but they don’t care about Bus Operators getting assaulted.”

Before putting off the case for two months, Judge Donnelly came down hard on the defendant, who caused a stir in the courtroom when she aggressively pushed past news reporters and had an exchange with law enforcement personnel. Judge Donnelly warned the defendant  “not to disrupt the work of the court officers.” When Medina’s attorney objected that the presence of a large number of transit workers was inflammatory, Donnelly shot back, “only she was misbehaving.” Samuelsen referred to the commotion later when he told news reporters that “the Judge got an eyeful of this criminal’s behavior when she disrupted the courtroom. Our Bus Operators experience that every day.”

Above: Acting OA Division II Chair Tony Aiken talks to a news reporter about the severity of assaults on Bus Operators.