Rider Initiated An Earlier Confrontation With Same Customer Service T Worker

Boston, MA – Video released by the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 shows a disgruntled commuter rail passenger targeting a MBTA worker prior to a confrontation at the Back Bay Train station. The passenger told the MBTA and media outlets that he took out a cellphone after the worker refused to provide him with information but the video clearly shows the disgruntled passenger walking through the train station and toward the worker with his cellphone already out and pointed at the employee.

“This man backed a female employee into a corner and, according to her statement, hit her in the face with his cellphone during a confrontation he initiated,” explained Boston Carmen’s Union Representative Larry Kelly. “She was trapped in a corner of the station with her back literally ‘against the wall’ and took action to put distance between her and an aggressive male customer. She feared for her safety”.

The expanded video shows what happened prior to the physical confrontation between the T worker and a passenger who admitted he had been drinking prior to the fight. The Boston Carmen’s Union also revealed that the same passenger had initiated an earlier confrontation directing vulgar language toward and sticking his finger in the face of the female MBTA worker.

‘This is an exemplary employee with three years on the job and no customer complaints in her file,” said Local 589 Vice President John Lee. “This male passenger targeted a female worker not once but twice. If he had taken the same actions against a female passenger at the Back Bay station there is a good possibility he would have been facing assault charges but because it is a woman MBTA worker then she must be at fault. That is disgraceful logic.”

The Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 intends to take all actions necessary to defend members working on the MBTA and this union members’ right to a full and fair hearing said Lee.