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Bus driver under investigation after exchange with self-proclaimed anti-American rider

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A driver in Albuquerque will soon learn her fate after an incident on a city bus. The passenger at the center of it all is the same man who made news trying to claim asylum in Canada, saying it’s too dangerous to be black in America.

Bus surveillance cameras recorded the city bus driver trying to throw the self-proclaimed “anti-American” off the bus.

It was early February, heading along Menaul. Rider Kyle Lydell Canty was chatting with another passenger and continued to talk after that person left.

“Sir, with all due respect, your counterpart got off the bus. Okay? And so you can quietly carry on this conversation, but not with the entire bus,” the driver told Canty.

But Canty didn’t back down.

“We have the right to freedom of speech,” said Canty.

“Yeah, just not on this bus,” the driver replied.

The driver didn’t back down, either.

“This is America! This bus is under my control, okay? You don’t like it? Get out!” said the driver.

“I’m having a conversation,” he said, refusing to get off.

“Good, then you can have it on the sidewalk,” said the driver.

Finally, the driver exclaims, “I quit!”

Canty told WISH-TV’s sister station KRQE, “I was just thinking, this driver has a mental issue.”

That’s when he started recording video on his cell phone.

“Nobody wants to hear it,” said the driver. “The other gentleman stepped off, this gentleman stepped off, that gentleman stepped off.”

“The point is,” said Canty, “You don’t run me, you don’t tell me what to do!”

She tried contacting headquarters, but moments later, things became physical.

“Out! Out of my bus! Out of my bus! Out of my bus!” yelled the driver.

“Don’t ever put your feet on me again. If you ever put your feet on me again, I’m pressing charges,” said Canty. “Don’t ever put your f****** feet on my. You put your feet on me again, I’m going to break that s***!”

ABQ RIDE’s Rick DeReyes saw the video, too. He says he can’t say much about the investigation, but did tell KRQE this:

“The policy is if you’re listening to whatever conversation, it’s not for anyone to stop that conversation unless it is a disturbance,” said DeReyes.

DeReyes says a disturbance is anything that prevents the driver from safely operating the bus.

“A threat to the passengers, a threat to the driver,” he said.

In this instance, DeReyes says from what the video shows, there didn’t seem to be a disturbance.

He says whenever they have a situation like this on a bus, they try to address it as quickly as possibly, but he says, considering the number of miles they travel everyday, it just doesn’t happen that often.

To see Canty’s entire cell phone video, click here.