Ice scraper threat puts bus driver in hot seat

When confronted with unruly passengers, Metro Transit bus drivers don't have many choices. They can't swear. They can't fight back. They can't even get out of their seats. But for decades, they've kept one tool by their side year-round as a deterrent to would-be attackers -- their trusty ice scraper.

Drivers say they need the scrapers to scare off passengers who might try to start a confrontation. Metro Transit says one of those confrontations has caused them to rethink whether scrapers should be kept on board.

Driver Paul Kiefner, a 15-year veteran with Metro Transit, was fired in March after he threatened a combative passenger with his ice scraper. The passenger grabbed Kiefner's glasses, poked him in the eye and threw the glasses on the dashboard as he ran off the bus.

Kiefner said he didn't see the passenger return his glasses, so he charged off the bus to get them back. He raised his scraper in defense as the passenger tackled and punched him. The incident cost Kiefner his job and earned him a disorderly conduct charge. His attacker, who has a long list of criminal convictions, subsequently landed in the county jail on an unrelated charge.

A state arbitrator, in a decision made public this week, overturned the firing. He ordered Kiefner's punishment to be reduced to a 10-day unpaid suspension, comparable to the punishments for three drivers involved in similar incidents, including a driver who tackled a passenger during an altercation and another driver who chased a passenger for six blocks.

Michelle Sommers, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, said most bus drivers do not use their ice scraper as a weapon when they are threatened, but she supports keeping them on board.

"You're an easy target," she said. "You're sitting in a seat. You can't defend yourself."

"Bus operators are expected to use the power of their voice, the power of persuasion and the radio telephone to call for help," Gibbons said.

Violence escalates quickly

Kiefner, 57, has been hit and spit on several times during his career. On March 9, he was driving his route through downtown Minneapolis around 3 p.m. when a man walked in front of the bus and waved his arms.

Kiefner said he couldn't stop in the middle of the road, so he let the man on a block away. Right away, the passenger began making abusive comments.

"I knew he was looking for a problem," Kiefner said Friday. "You go to work every day and you have to worry about somebody punching you or spitting on you for nothing other than doing your job."

When the man got off about 45 minutes later, he started calling Kiefner derogatory names. Kiefner responded angrily, threatening to beat him if he didn't shut up. Then he picked up his industrial-sized ice scraper, adding he wouldn't hesitate to use it.

After reviewing a videotape of the incident, Metro Transit officials became convinced that Kiefner was too aggressive. They thought he jumped off bus to retaliate, and that he was swinging his scraper in a threatening manner.

Kiefner said that because of previous problems on the job, including washing his bus without management approval, he was subject to strict employment conditions that allow Metro Transit to fire him for lying on the job. Managers used that power in this case, claiming he was lying when he said he got off the bus to retrieve his glasses.

The arbitrator disagreed, finding no proof Kiefner was lying.

Kiefner is expecting to return to work in early November. He received back pay minus the 10-day unpaid suspension, and he'll have to go through a day of retraining. He is still facing the disorderly conduct charge, but he says he feels vindicated by the arbitrator's ruling.

"It's a hefty instrument," Gibbons said. "Maybe there's something that can scrape ice that doesn't need to be so bulky and intimidating."

Lora Pabst • 612-673-4628