Bus Driver Quits, Exits Via Bus Ramp
FairCityNews.com | Aug 12, 2010 | Comments 0
Lou Stitall stands after sliding out the bus ramp
Springfield, MO—Career bus driver Lou Stitall was charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, and trespassing after an argument with a passenger led to an apparent meltdown on Campbell Avenue. Authorities said Stitall dropped several f-bombs on the City Utilities bus’ loudspeaker, grabbed two smokes, then deployed the bus’ emergency ramp, and took off.
According to one witness, one passenger got out of his bus seat to fetch his belongings from the seat in front of his before the driver had come to a complete stop and given permission. “The driver instructed the man to remain seated. The passenger then cursed him. So the driver approached and reached the passenger just as he yanked over his luggage, which struck the driver in the head,” said one bus rider, Jeremy Opper, who was seated near the front of the bus and had an open pack of Winston cigarettes laying next to him.
After the driver’s request for an apology was answered with profanity by the passenger, Stitall took to the speaker system and announced, “To the passenger who called me a mother-father, shut the front door… I’ve been in the business 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.”
City Utilities is, of course, taking this seriously and helping the Missouri Highway Department with their investigation. However, said the utility in a statement: “At no time was the security or safety of our customers at risk.”
Stitall, the working-class hero who was pushed over the edge, is being charged with 2nd- and 4th-degree criminal mischief, 1st- and 2nd-degree reckless endangerment, and criminal trespass in the 3rd degree.
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