Melinda Slick, Waukesha Bus Driver: Racial Verbal Assault (Video)

Melinda Slick was the victim of a racial verbal assault by a Waukesha Metro Transit bus driver.

There is video of the incident. "Allegedly" does not apply.

Melinda Slick asked the bus driver, an African American woman, to turn off the air conditioner. She eventually complied, but apparently didn't like Slick's attitude.

As she was getting off the bus, the driver said to Slick, "As long as you're short, fat, and white, don't talk to me like that."

The driver's final comment to Slick was "Fat ***."

Mark Belling discussed the story on his radio program this afternoon. I heard about it last night on FOX6 News.

Getting around the city of Waukesha involves public transportation or two feet for Melinda Slick — but since August 23rd, riding has become more complicated. This, after Slick says she was verbally assaulted by a Waukesha Metro Transit bus driver.

...The words spoken by a Waukesha bus driver were captured by surveillance camera.

“She told me ‘as long as you’re short, fat and white, you will not speak to me like that again,’” Slick said.

...Slick says it all started when she got on the bus, and asked the driver to turn off the air conditioning. When the driver refused, Slick said she asked again.

The driver, who is African-American, eventually turned the A/C off, but when Slick tried to get off the bus, words were exchanged.

“I definitely feel race played a huge issue in it. If that would have been a white bus driver that made a comment like that to an African-American, they would have been fired,” Slick said.

In a statement, the city of Waukesha said: “There is no excuse for that behavior. Although this was an isolated incident, the city is taking this very seriously.”

The company who employs the driver said they couldn’t comment, but added Veolia Transportation “will provide refresher customer service training.”

That kind of discipline isn’t enough for Slick, who fears she will run into the driver on other buses. She says she feels there could be retaliation if she runs into the driver, and wants her fired.

“They did inform me she would be off of this route, but she would be able to drive other routes. She should not be able to drive buses anymore,” Slick said.

Here's FOX6 video:



"You're short, fat, and white."

That's no way for a public transit employee to speak to a passenger.

Good grief, if a white bus driver had said something like that to a black passenger, that driver would be fired. No question about it. "You're short, fat, and black."

Julie Chen would be outraged.

Obama might even call the victim. Michelle might tweet, "We've got your back."

"Refresher customer service training"?

Give me a break!

"Please remember not to insult passengers. Don't make disparaging comments about their height, weight, or race."

What a joke!

This is really offensive. I'm so sick of the double standard.