Woman Charged with Hitting Bus Driver

Woman is charged in assault on Metro Transit bus driver

A Minneapolis woman was charged Friday in an assault of a Metro Transit bus driver in St. Louis Park.
Brittany Taneal Simpson, 18, was charged with a felony count of interference with a transit operator as well as fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor. She was being held in the Hennepin County jail Friday night in lieu of $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Hennepin County District Court on Monday afternoon, according to jail records.
Simpson was part of a group disrupting a Route 17 bus on Wednesday, according to the criminal complaint. The driver warned the group before she stopped the bus and asked the group to stop shouting.
As the group was leaving, Simpson asked the driver whether she was calling the police, the complaint said. A companion told Simpson to leave, as did the driver, which is when Simpson hit the driver in the head with her hand, the complaint said.
The driver described the woman who hit her, and police found someone who matched near Rhode Island Avenue and 35th Street, the complaint said. The driver went there, the complaint said, and identified Simpson, who denied being on the bus. Video footage from the bus verifies the driver's account, the complaint said.