Baby Thugs Accused of Pilfering Muni Driver's Jacket and Transfers

Driver-passenger relations aren't always so chummy.

Muni drivers have image problems these days, so it seems a stretch that anybody would actually want to dress up like one. Yet, the Excelsior baby thugs who steal Muni jackets struck again last night -- and this time, they took the bus transfers, too.

At about 10 p.m. Thursday night, a group of kids of various races boarded the 8X bus at Geneva and Moscow, and started tagging the interior with graffiti. If you've ever been on a, say 14-Mission, you realize this is a popular thing to do. Actually some of the high school truants we interviewed for a January cover story said this is what they regularly do when they skip school. Well, this bus driver wasn't going to take it anymore, and yelled at them to stop.

Big mistake. One of the boys then approached the driver and "threatened and intimidated him," according to the police report. Five of the kids got off at Geneva and Madrid, then hopped right back on to surround the driver. Things went from unpleasant to ugly: One kid allegedly  stole the driver's jacket from his seat, another grabbed his bus transfers. (Why?! Why?! So they could board and do this to other drivers all night long for free?) Meanwhile, all the kids yelled profanities at the clearly outnumbered driver.

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The driver attempted to call the police via radio, but the main baby thug again threatened him, so he resorted to activating the bus emergency button.

Two cops showed up and caught four of the kids redhanded on Mission Street, with graffiti paraphenelia and the bus transfers in tow. D'oh! According to the police report, two of the suspects were booked for robbery with force, one was cited, and one was released to his parents.

That must have been one interesting ride home.

Photos via Flikr by katerw and define23