A Long Beach city bus driver has reached a settlement with the Long Beach Public Transportation Co. in her lawsuit alleging that a supervisor gave her a glib response when she complained that a passenger who exposed himself to her three years earlier was again trying to board her coach.
Ashley Ables contended in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that in replying to her complaint about the passenger, the boss told her to let the individual come on board because he had already done jail time. Ables says she did so and the person again exposed himself to her, causing her emotional harm.
On Friday, attorneys told Judge Peter Hernandez that the case was resolved. No terms were divulged.
According to her suit, Ables was hired in June 2018. She alleges the lewd passenger exposed himself to her several times on her bus in 2020. After Ables reported what happened to the police, the rider pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail, the suit further stated.
But Ables learned in early November 2023 that the passenger was out of jail and was telling others, including other city employees, that he was “looking for the (expletive) who put him in jail,” according to the complaint.
Ables, concerned about the passenger, asked that action be taken, including putting her on a different bus route, but the city “refused to take reasonable measures to prevent future harassment by the rider,” the suit stated.
Ables saw the man waiting to board in November 2023, so she called her supervisor, who told the plaintiff to let the man board because he had “already served his time,” the suit stated.
Upon boarding, the passenger again exposed himself to plaintiff and engaged in other lewd conduct, the suit stated. Ables suffered serious emotional harm and took a leave of absence that was still ongoing at the time she sued in February 2024, the complaint stated.
City employees should be protected from disgusting POSs like that before it turns into something more serious.