ALBANY — Four months ago, Tabatha Dougherty downloaded footage of herself being allegedly assaulted on a Capital District Transportation Authority bus.
The ex-CDTA bus operator on Tuesday morning finally decided to watch the October incident for herself.
“My mom has seen it and she’s had panic attacks over it,” she said. “My family has seen the actual CDTA bus footage with the police, but I did not, so this is actually a big step in moving forward.”
In her account, this is what happened during the Oct. 24 incident: she brought the Route 100 bus to a halt in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood upon hearing threats waged against an older adult; the perpetrator was initially kicked off the bus, but forced herself back in the front door of the bus and attacked Dougherty; others joined in.
Dougherty, who suffered a concussion and sprained lower lumbar spinal inquiry, claimed that she was ultimately fired from CDTA for getting up out of her seat — against protocol — during the encounter. The firing, she said, occurred during a meeting with officials at the public corporation’s Albany headquarters on Oct. 31.
“They berated me the entire time,” claimed the Amsterdam native and Waterford resident. “They told me that it was my fault. [Human Resources] told me that you can't put yourself in a dangerous situation and then ask yourself why you were attacked.”
Had the process been approached appropriately, according to Dougherty, she would’ve been granted 60 days of paid leave as a result of the attack, per a union-negotiated contract. Officials with the union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1321, didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Dougherty is in the process of preparing a lawsuit against CDTA over accusations of union-policy violations and unsafe working conditions. The latter charge stems, in part, from failing to hear back from dispatch when she requested help “even when I hit the 911 panic button.”
She hopes that a lawsuit, in addition to a viral video she posted of the video footage on social media, would help the industry move forward.
“It's not me to say, ‘Hey, look at me so I can get attention and hopefully get money out of this,’” she said. “ ... I grew up in the transportation industry and I just want it to be safe, even if it's not for me. That's OK. I want this to have happened for a reason.”
In a statement, CDTA spokesperson Emily DeVito noted that officials are aware of the bus incident.
"As a matter of practice, we do not comment on personnel matters,” DeVito said. “At CDTA, the safety of our bus operators is one of our top priorities, and we provide extensive safety training for all of our operators.”
Between 2008 and 2022, the number of violent attacks against transit operators increased about threefold, according to the Urban Institute. The group attributed the rise to income inequality and civil agitation.
Late last month in Madison, Wisconsin, a bus crashed into a Chinese restaurant after the operator was allegedly assaulted, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The closest reported attacks typically occur in New York City. These alleged incidents range in severity, according to city police: a driver being splashed with liquid in Manhattan last week; a driver having their head slammed into the partition in September in the Bronx; an operator being punched and choked after colliding with a driver last November in Brooklyn.
Just feeling the tension from rowdy passengers, Dougherty said, was an everyday occurrence leading up to the Oct. 24 incident. She was moved to Route 100 in August and had been with CDTA since 2021.
“Every day, you can talk to any bus driver, they have stories for days,” Dougherty said. “It's unbelievable what we go through.”
One student in the Albany City School District was suspended as a result of the October incident on Dougherty’s bus, according to school system spokesperson Ron Lesko. He said the district isn’t aware of any other violent encounters between students and CDTA drivers.
Note: The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers is a tenant of a CDTA-owned building in Schenectady.
Tyler A. McNeil can be reached at 518-395-3047 or tmcneil@dailygazette.net. Follow him on Facebook at Tyler A. McNeil, Daily Gazette or X @TylerAMcNeil.
