Photo by m01229

Photo by m01229

WMATA is investigating an incident in which a Metrobus driver called a man the “N word” in Arlington last Friday. The man recorded the bus driver as he continued his racist rant once they came face-to-face.

The man told Fox 5 News that the altercation began when he was driving slowly down the street trying to find his location. Then, the man said the bus driver opened his door and told him that he doesn’t “own the road” and he’s a “typical [expletive] ‘N word.'”

The man is black, and the bus driver is white.

“I was sort of like in shock,” said the man, who began recording the scene after he and the bus driver got out of their vehicles at Ballston Metro station.

“So what, you can’t take it?” the bus driver repeatedly asked the man, acknowledging using the racist term. “You’re on Metro property, what are you going to do?” the bus driver continued, after the man told him to move back.

It was hard to walk away, the man said, as he got emotional with Fox News. “Things could have went wrong—terribly wrong if I was the wrong person. But fortunately, I was the right person who walked away from it.”

Metro spokesperson Richard Jordan told DCist that the transit agency is aware of the video and an investigation is underway. And the operator is currently on administrative leave.

Filed Under: ballston metro, bus driver, n word, racist, rant,