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Ever since lasts week's Muni bus brawl went "viral" -- a term MSM adores using repeatedly; speaking of which, a few news anchors have been using the term "cat fight" to describe the female fight, which, really? -- the clip has scored, as of Monday morning, well over a half million views. The video is disgusting yet enthralling.
SFist talked to Jonathan Perel, the passenger who managed to capture the fight on his phone. We asked Perel about what happened right after the fight, why he decided to post the brutal scene on the interwebs, and to tell us a bit about his own personal experience with violence on Muni.
SFist: Hello there. Thanks for answering a few of our questions. First off, would you tell us where you were going that day and at what time?
JP: Going to work. I live in North Beach and take the 9x/30/45 lines from Stockton and Columbus to Post and Stockton (Union Square) every day to get to work. I usually arrive at work at 9 or 10 AM.
SF: Obviously, you take these lines often?
JP: Weekdays. Any of those three lines.
SF: Before we dive into the fistfight of note, you mentioned to us that you were attacked while riding the same bus route three weeks ago. What happened to you?
JP: I got on the bus around 9:45 at Stockton/Columbus and sat in one of the rear facing seats on one of the articulated buses. I did notice that the guy sitting in the seat in the isle across from me was a little sketchy looking, but I sat down, minded my own business and started checking my email. As I was wearing sunglasses that obscured my peripheral vision, I didn't see the punch coming in, and it landed squarely on my neck. Luckily, I caught the end of the punch as he punched my while sitting down across the isle from me.
There was NO warning. I jumped up stunned and yelled out "What the FUCK" several times at him. He stayed sitting and started saying something about "a genie in my phone" and that "it would bring alcohol out of my phone". I realized the guy was probably drugged or schizophrenic (or both) and decided that the best thing to do would be to talk to the bus driver.
I made my way across the bus (it was moderately full) and got to the bus driver as we got to a stop. I told her that I had just been attacked and that the guy was not "right in his head". The bus driver continued on her route. I had to repeat several times to her that I had just been attacked before she started taking me a little more seriously, and she picked up a phone of some sort and to call in "central". Apparently, nobody picked up and she kept driving past the final two stops in Chinatown, across the tunnel, past Sutter Stockton, and to my stop at Union Square. The guy got out there and walked away, west on Geary Street. I gave the bus driver the top of one of my checks (with my contact info) and walked to a block to work to lay down (I'm pretty sure I was in shock).
SF: With regard to the fight between the two women, what made you pull out your camera?
JP: When I saw the two women stand up I knew something was about to happen. I don't know what went through my head exactly, but I think I knew it was going to be important to have evidence of what what about to happen.
SF: What kind of camera did you use?
JP: iPhone 3GS. I uploaded the clip a little bit late to youtube straight from the phone.
SF: After you turned the camera off, what happened on the bus? Did the driver, to the best of your knowledge, do anything? What about the woman who stopped the fight? What about the lady involved in the fight who remained on the bus?
JP: I stopped recording when the doors closed. I got off on the next stop. The Chinese lady stayed on the bus and was talking to other passengers. I don't really remember much after that. As far as I know the driver did nothing, and I think that it was IMPOSSIBLE that the bus driver did not hear the commotion that went on. The argument was loud and started WELL before I started recording. Even worse was that there happened to be a Muni/MTA official of some sort at the Sutter-Stockton stop (you can see him at the end of the video), and this person did NOTHING.
SF: What has been the fallout after posting the video? I imagine your inbox has been full ever since.
JP: I've given several interviews to TV and newspaper, although I don't believe any of the TV interviews ran. I was (and still am) blown away by the scale of the response. I had no idea this would happen. I uploaded it to YouTube so I could share my morning commute experience with my coworkers and Facebook friends. I twittered about it on a whim. Its so popular now that YouTube wants to put commercials on it. Wow! I have had about 50 YouTube emails about it - everything from requests to license the video, to compliments on my looks.
SF: Some people are concerned that you didn't put down your camera and stop the fight. (Something we personally disagree with; for many reason, we are proud of you for capturing the fight on Muni.) How do you respond to that?
JP: [Due too my own physical altercation] three weeks ago, my first instinctual reaction was to not get physically involved. Nevertheless, I think I recorded it because I couldn't not get involved either. When the fight went past me and the young Chinese lady started yelling for someone to grab the older Chinese lady, I was debating whether to put down the camera and jump in or not. Still, by this time the worst was over (except for a final lunging kick) and the African-American lady was off the bus. Remember that this happened VERY quickly, and in the heat of the moment it felt even faster.
I'm very glad I did what I did. If I hadn't then, for all intents and purposes, nobody would know about what happened. There would have been no consequences for anybody, and certainly none for Muni. Neither the bus driver nor the Muni official at the stop reported the incident. That's absolutely disgraceful. I'm assuming that the incident where I was attacked was swept under the proverbial mat as well. If I hadn't recorded this incident, this one would have been forgotten as well. If I had jumped in it wouldn't have made any difference, but recording it made it public to the world. I really do wish someone had recorded it when I was attacked. Maybe Muni has it on tape somewhere? I've asked their PR person whether the driver made a report of it or not. We'll see. I doubt it.
SF: Anything else you would like to tell us?
JP: Yeah...can you give me a ride to work? No way I'm taking the bus.
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If only there were some short, easy-to-remember phone number to call and report things like this.
Police Chief Garcón (or however his name is spelled) has set up a TXT/SMS to SFPD system.... SFist reported on it a month or two ago, but I'm too lazy to look up the actual digits to use.
311?
Hint: starts with a 9.
never forget.
Have you ever dialed 911 in SF from your cell phone while on MUNI. Yeah, good luck with that.
You must be new.
Muni's official line is that despite recent events, overall the number of incidents is down for the year.
That's easy to explain: the incidents are not being reported by the drivers.
Very true. These guys never get up from the seats anymore, not to break up fights, not to collect fairs, not to notify their front office.
Don't agree with anyone who would criticize this guy for not getting "actually" involved. This guy did all of us (and MUNI) a favor by getting this on video since MUNI's own cameras apparently don't work too well. Of course, I think were the incident more severe (like the case of the guy beaten up down near City College last week), you're taking your life in your hands if you even tape such an incident. Which is a sad statement regarding MUNI safety.
It saddens me that you can't be crazy on a bus anymore without someone taking your picture and sticking it on their blog.
This isn't some skinny frail little guy, he's a pretty big dude that should have been big enough to stop this altercation between two women. But he chose not to, and you guys are buying into his reason by interviewing him.
Hey Ted... I'm glad you know so much about me... Oh wait, you don't!! If it really matters to you, I'm 5 foot 1 inches... And, I've never been called a "pretty big dude" in my life... My girlfriend will laugh her ass off at that one. Thanks. JP
Are you out of your mind? The way I see it, the man's video has served a lot more benefit than him playing holier than thou and getting between a limited-English speaking old woman and a young angry black woman. From my perspecive: no knife, no gun, no weapons, which means there is plenty of time to break up the fight. Better to ensure some evidence is at hand if and when the cops come and have to mediate between she-said, she-said. As for your criticism of the man for what you deem cowardice, please, may you yourself never be the victim of a violent crime at the hands of a total stranger. What this video film-maker did was nothing short of great and actually brave as well. While filming the incident, he couldn't have felt that safe taping an assault. If someone dies, both he and his camera would be next.
My bad dude you don't look small on the video. That's probably a good thing I suppose.
That's ok. They say TV makes you look 10 pounds heavier... Maybe it also makes you look taller... Its all about the angles and the lighting, no? Hell, the camera can make Tom Cruise look like a tall action star. Anything is possible
Here's the interview from KGO/ABC7. Heather Ishimaru interviews me around 1:03.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=7057497
I hope this reminds us that MUNI drivers don't actually care what happens to the passengers as long as the driver's ass isn't on the line. Altruism simply isn't in the contract. So call 911 and exaggerate if you have to. I would have shrieked about a crazy man violently assaulting passengers on the bus. Tends to get SFPD's attention.
Or how about stepping up and getting the other 20 passengers on the bus to do something instead of passing the buck to the driver who is all the way at the front?
A whole bunch of people dropped the ball on this and it's silly to place it all on just the driver.
These things happen more often than you would like to think about. It doesn't do much good to bother the driver because there's really very little they can do besides call the cops. Besides that, the driver's job is to drive (a rather daunting task in itself), not babysit squabbling riders.
About a year ago, i was on the 45 when a guy got on, reeking like a distillery and announcing to everyone he menacingly made eye contact with that it was his birthday. If i were to guess from his pungency, it very likely was. He started out toward the front, drunkenly pushing people near him and threatening some Belgian tourists. i decided to step in and tell him to shut up, and leave the frightened-looking family alone. He then began threatening me, of course, while i did my best to ignore him. i moved to the back of the bus, and of course he followed, sitting across the aisle and loudly muttering abuse and various epithets. He then got up, and sat next to an older Asian woman who was reading a map, and then proceeded to tear the map from her hands. Terrified, she immediately stood up and moved as quickly as she could toward the front, trying to get the driver's attention. So he followed after her and spat in her face. He finally got off at Union Square, but not without me literally booting him out the back door.
In another incident, this time on the 14 Mission, a woman robbed a man while a whole bus full of people could only watch. It happened around 2am on a Saturday (i think)...the bus was full of both the after-bar crowd and tired restaurant workers just off shift. A group of about 5 people about their early twenties got on the bus, loudly announcing to everybody "We're goin' to the rave!" One of them--the aforementioned woman--noticed a Latino man asleep or drunk (possibly both) in his seat toward the back of the bus. She walked over to him, and facing him, straddled his legs, and began rubbing his thighs and his crotch like a stripper giving him a lap dance. Waking up rather startled he looked at her, seemingly quite confused. She then reached into his pockets removing his wallet, keys, and cell phone. At this point, i think he realised he was being robbed, and removed the gold chain around his neck, handing it to her. Myself, as well as a number of other passengers exchanged furtive looks, all of us wondering what to do about what was going on. The problem was her 4 other friends, all of them fairly good-sized, athletic-looking guys. i was about to say something, and wondered if, should the whole thing turn violent, would someone else have my back, or would i be on my own? In the end, nobody did anything. The 5 got off a few stops down the line, gloating excitedly "We came up! We came up!" and continued on their way.
Reminds me of all the BS that went on on Muni buses when I lived in SF. People getting on the buses through the back doors, fights, and a lot of attitude.
I've lived in NY for the past 15 years and I take the buses often. There is none of the hostile crap I saw in SF.
Ahhh the crazy coast, I don't miss it either.
Why are people expecting the bus driver to do anything? There are crazy people on the bus abusing people all the time. If the bus drivers were required to intervene, they would need to carry guns or tasers to have the respect needed to intervene in such cases 4 to 10 times a day. Fortunately, we don't have cops driving buses, and while some some people might go crazy, don't expect bus drivers to do anything unless there is utmost violence. You want to bring the bus down to a stop? Call the cops yourself, and realize what a waste of time it is for everyone.
I do agree with the "passengers should take matters into their own hands" sentiment, if they feel they are not endangering themselves and they have the luxury of having the time to do so. Original Poster here was going to work, quite likely he didn't want to have to wait for the cops to file their report if the situation had gotten worse.
The guy did the right thing. Either lady could have been armed. He's not a cop. I'm glad he posted it and perhaps the perps will get arrested and the bus driver disciplined. Oh, well, that's asking too much. The hell with Kandy the Embezzler, anyhow.