Vauhxx Booker
Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, June 13, 2018
(BLOOMINGTON) - A Bloomington Transit employee was fired after accusing a man of stealing a bus pass.
According to officials, Vauhxx Booker used his debit card to purchase the $30 monthly bus pass the afternoon of June 1. As he left the downtown transit center, a Bloomington Transit employee followed him outside and accused him of not paying for the bus pass.
Vauhxx Booker
Booker went back inside the station to resolve the issue thinking maybe something was wrong with his debit card. Booker tried to pull up is bank account records on his phone and found the transaction had in fact cleared. But the transit employee didn't believe him.
Booker claims the female employee became abrasive, demanded Booker's debt card and to make a photocopy. The woman called Bloomington police when Booker refused to hand over his debit card.
Police investigated and found Booker had done nothing wrong and he left the center.
Booker recorded much of the interaction with the transit employee and police on his cell phone and posted it on his Facebook page. His video can be found here.
Bloomington Transit officials placed the woman on leave during a review of the incident. She was fired last Friday. Transit and city officials met with Booker last week and apologized about the incident and discusses ways to improve customer service.
Transit General Manager Lew May says he is researching additional training options for employees, and creating a new transit policies and procedures, including clear guidelines on when it is appropriate to call police.
"Thank you to the Transit Authority for reacting quickly with concern for the wellbeing of your customers and the public at large. The service you provide is vital to our community," Booker wrote on Facebook. "Thank you to Mary Catherine Carmichael of The Mayor's Office for your diligence and concern in facilitating interactions between the Transit Authority and myself. The Transit Authority is working at breakneck speed to institute training and protocol to prevent such events from transpiring again. In a final thought, I'd ask that everyone would offer this measure of grace. Although, our actions have consequences, please allow the other individual involved in this incident room to grow and heal from what must be a powerful learning experience."
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