Fired MTA Driver Hijacks MTA Bus After Being Told Not to Smoke, Police Say
(DNAINFO) Shaye Weaver | February 23, 2016 — She hopped behind the wheel as the driver was escorting passengers off the bus, police said.
Charita Headley, 34 — who worked for the MTA as a bus operator until July 2015 when she was terminated for extended absence — began smoking on the M101 bus at East 96th Street on her way up Third Avenue in East Harlem at about 7:10 a.m., police said.
When she lit her cigarette, the driver told her to stop and get off the bus, but she refused, according to police and the MTA.
When the driver got to East 97th Street, he began moving his passengers off the bus and onto another one — giving the Headley the opportunity to jump behind the wheel and take off, police said.