'Take This Serious': Bus Driver Dies Of COVID-19 After Calling Out Coughing Rider

Jason Hargrove was behind the wheel of a bus in Detroit when he said a passenger began to cough. The middle-aged woman let loose four or five times without covering her mouth, he said, and watching her do this — at the same time Michigan was under a state of emergency for the coronavirus — got him so upset, he felt compelled to vent his frustrations in a video afterward.

"I'm mad right about now because that s*** was uncalled for. I'm trying to be the professional that they want me to be, and I kept my mouth closed," he said, voice breaking with emotion. "I kept my mouth closed, but it's at some point in time we've got to draw the line and say enough is enough."

Now, nearly two weeks after he recorded the video, which viewers shared widely on Facebook Live, Hargrove himself has died of COVID-19. The Amalgamated Transit Union confirmed his death in a tweet posted Thursday.

The bus driver's death "should touch everybody in the city of Detroit, should touch everybody in the country," the city's mayor, Mike Duggan, said at news conference Thursday, noting that Hargrove "knew the risks, was vocal about the risks, he went to work anyway."

"Some of his language is graphic, but I don't know how you can watch it and not tear up. He knew his life was being put in jeopardy — even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day — by somebody who just didn't care, who didn't take this seriously," the mayor added. "And now he's gone."

Just days before Hargrove posted his video, bus drivers in Detroit refused to work, s... (Read more)

Tweets mentioned:

https://twitter.com/ATUComm/status/1245865213867393025

https://twitter.com/RideDDOT/status/1239885282780024832

https://twitter.com/CityofDetroit/status/1240005071129190400

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