The Philadelphia Police Department has been asked to explain a video that went viral of a Black man being forcibly removed from a public bus because he had no mask or face covering.
In the video, what appears to be four police officers backed by about six more, forcibly pull a man off of a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) bus. The uniformed and masked police officers lift the adult man off the bus, after which they allow him to walk away. He was neither arrested nor ticketed.
“All because he had no (effing) mask,” said a man, who himself wore a mask, at the end of the video. “He better get a (effing) mask.”
The video was shot by Dupree Myers of Philadelphia, who posted it to Facebook. SEPTA said the incident was still under investigation.
According to the Philadelphia Police Department, the incident happened on the afternoon of April 10. PPD received 911 calls about a disturbance on a SEPTA bus. A SEPTA bus driver had requested that the man “leave the bus several times and the passenger repeatedly refused,” according to a police spokesperson.
When the officers arrived, they “ordered the male to leave the bus several times. The male refused, at which point the officers physically removed him,” police said.
SEPTA said it rolled out a mandatory mask policy based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the week of April 6. Following the incident, SEPTA changed the policy.
“While SEPTA urges riders to cover their faces, those who refuse will not be barred entry to the system,” SEPTA has since said, The Hill reported.
The “incident involving the [Philadelphia Police Department]…may be more than just a face-covering enforcement, but it has caused SEPTA to reevaluate whether riders should be required to wear a face covering,” SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel said in an email sent to the transit police force. “We can no longer use a lack of face-covering or traveling for nonessential reasons as a reason to conduct police contact.”
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“The covering can be as simple as a shirt, bandana, or anything else someone can grab at home before they head out,” said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch via email to WHYY/PBS. “At a minimum, these masks and facial coverings could help keep the person wearing them from spreading germs, and if everyone wears them, we would have a great deal of added protection.”
Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove died of COVID-19 two weeks after posting a video on Facebook to complain about a passenger on his bus who was coughing without covering her mouth.
Hargrove used his video to urge social distancing on public transportation. He asked passengers to take COVID-19 seriously.
“This is real. Ya’ll need to take this serious. This is real,” Hargrove said. “I’m out here, we out here, we’re moving the city around back and forth trying to do our jobs and be professional about what we do.”
More than 130 workers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and at least two police officers have tested positive for the coronavirus, WHYY/PBS reported. At least three have died.
