Feeling 'extremely vulnerable,' ex-bus driver takes five months to recover after being spit on
so if she moonlighted at a whorehouse, would that be some sort of busman's holiday?An ex-city bus driver who took five months sick leave after a rider spat on her insisted Tuesday she needed the recovery time after the harrowing - and gross - attack.
"I needed the help of psychiatrists in order for me to regain some sort of composure to be able to deal with people," Oneshia Shade said. "I felt extremely vulnerable."
Shade defended the practice after the MTA revealed that dozens of bus drivers took an average 64 paid days off last year after getting hit with spit.
One even took 191 days, officials said.
Stung by criticism from MTA board members, NYC Transit said yesterday it plans to give some cases extra scrutiny.
"The cases that seem to be extreme, we're going to go back and look at them and see if there are incidents of abuse," said Joe Smith, NYC Transit vice president of buses.
The drivers are paid through the state workers' compensation program, with NYC Transit picking up some of the tab, officials said.