Female Bus Driver Charged with Hate Crime After Confronting Man with Phone in Women's Locker Room
A New York City bus driver is facing criminal charges after an altercation with a transgender fellow bus operator inside a women’s locker room.
Bus driver Sonia Rivera is facing charges including harassment, harassment as a hate crime and assault following the March incident, WPIX-TV in New York reported Thursday.
Nana Mangual, a man who claims to be a woman, told the outlet Rivera assaulted him inside the women’s changing room at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Eastchester Bus Depot.
He said she became violent after realizing he was recording her.
“She told me I need to use the men’s room,” Mangual told WPIX.
“When she realized I was recording, she turned around and physically attacked me,” he said.
A brief video shows a female employee striking a cellphone out of Mangual’s hands as she realized she was being filmed inside the changing room.
Police said Rivera then slapped him in the face, according to the New York Post.
The MTA told WPIX the altercation was under official investigation.
“The MTA does not tolerate violence or discrimination of any kind in the workplace and takes allegations of this nature very seriously,” it said.
“Given this matter is currently under investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
Mangual claimed he has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of the brief altercation.
The bus driver said he has been unable to return to work and has filed for worker’s compensation because of the encounter.
Mangual also said he has been “misgendered” while working for the MTA.
“It was nerve-racking because I don’t see any transgender drivers,” he said. “I faced discrimination by being misgendered, being called ‘he’ when my pronouns are ‘she/her.'”
Mangual said he wants the MTA to provide gender-neutral accommodations for transgender employees.
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