Viral video shows a teenager hitching a ride on the back of a Metrobus. News4’s Adam Tuss tracked down the man who shot the video and the mother of the teen, who have very different opinions of the boy’s ride.
What to Know
- "I was scared for him, I'm not going to lie," said the man who captured the video.
- Metro sharply criticized the video Tuesday afternoon.
- "What we all witnessed in the video was note just unsafe, it was reckless," the transit agency said.
Metro says a teen shown in a viral video clinging to the back of a moving Metrobus was "reckless" and it could have cost him his life.
"Only in DC," wrote local artist Rasta Tahj on Twitter, who captured the video (warning: contains profanity) on Benning Road NE on Monday.
"I was driving home from work and I look up, and there's a guy on the back of the bus," Tahj told NBC Washington.
NBC4 transportation reporter Adam Tuss reports that the person shown in the video is 15 years old.
n“What (thieves) do is wait for the doors to close and snatch your phone and then run out the door,” said train operator Leon Huntley Jr.
“You can feel relaxed and comfortable, sometimes too comfortable. You have your cellphone out and you’re not watching, but the poacher is,” said bus operator P.L. Dates.
n“You’d be surprised," Huntley said. "If you walk down one more car, it may cost you 20 steps, but more people can get off at the same station.”
“I had a gentleman pull out a pistol and put it to my throat,” Dates said.
n“Some things are out of our hands,” said Mallard.
The bus operators recommended passengers avoid confronting fare cheats themselves to avoid physical retaliation.
n“They jump on the ledge on the doorway and hold the sides," Mallard said. "As the train is moving out of the station, they jump off before the train picks up speed.”
nHuntley said a rising number of passengers are deliberately walking into rail tunnels, in many cases to exit a delayed train.
n“Some of the stations are so close, if there’s a delay in the system, they’ll say ‘I’ll just walk,” he said.
“If they fall and hit the third rail, that’s it,” Huntley said.
nDates said operators see people making temporary residence in some rail tunnels during cold winter months before they’re evicted by agency managers.
“I see it happen two or three times a week,” said Alma Rumph, an 18-year rail supervisors who monitors downtown D.C.-area rail stations. “Some people jump on the tracks and they don’t realize how high the platform is. That is not the way to go.”
nRumph said rail station employees will retrieve items dropped on to the tracks so that passengers don’t risk injury or death doing so. Rumph said employees will contact the system’s rail operations center and attempt to halt nearby trains during the process.n
nShe said employees will not retrieve lost items during rush hours however, because of the high volume of train traffic. Passengers who drop phones on to the tracks between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., will have to wait until the completion of rush hour before an employee will enter the tracks for the retrieval.
n“On a certain line, it can be turned into a motel on wheels," Dates said. "Teenagers are going to see what they can get away with.”
n“I’ve seen nudity more than once,” Mallard said.
Bus operators said passengers often seek out back, corner seats to attempt to avoid detection from operators.
n“Passengers are scrounging around at the fare box machine,” said bus operator Derrick Mallard.
Tuss reported that the teen's mother called the incident "light-hearted," but Metro sharply criticized it Tuesday afternoon.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
"What we all witnessed in the video was note just unsafe, it was reckless," a statement from the transit agency read. "While we are thankful that this person was not injured or killed, those outcomes were very real possibilities."
Tahj said he was driving about 40 mph as he spotted the shocking sight around 4 p.m. Monday. The individual is seen holding onto the X2 Metrobus and standing on the rear bumper. He does not appear to be panicked.
"I was scared for him, I'm not going to lie," Tahj said.
Tahj said they were on the north side of Benning Road. He believes the person hopped off when the bus stopped at Minnesota Avenue.
He said the person in the video ended up being tagged and told Rahj he couldn't believe it went viral.
"He just does a lot of stuff like that; he couldn't really explain it," Tahj said. He said he told the person, "'I'm glad you're safe.'"
