MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A 29-year-old woman is facing charges after striking another woman last month on a Miami-Dade County Transit bus after the victim asked her to move her purse so she could sit down, authorities said.
According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened at about 9 a.m. on June 27 in the area of 166th Street and Northeast Sixth Avenue.
Deputies said the victim, who is 65 or older and has medical issues, boarded the bus, which was nearly at capacity, and saw that a purse was sitting on one of the seats in the disabled persons section near the front of the bus.
The victim told deputies that she asked a woman, later identified by deputies as Shawntrell Cortez Rose, of Miami, to move her purse so she could sit down, but Rose didn’t acknowledge her.
Deputies said the victim claimed that she asked the driver for help, but was unsuccessful and other passengers then assisted her in asking Rose to remove her purse from the seat.
According to the report, Rose eventually acknowledged the victim and became “verbally abusive,” saying “f***ing Haitian people.”
The victim said the bus driver stopped the bus and Rose stomped on her leg and struck her in the face as the victim was sitting down before exiting the bus.
Deputies said the attack was captured on CCTV footage.
According to the report, deputies discovered Wednesday that Rose was in custody in Miami Beach on unrelated charges.
A detective responded to the Miami Beach Police Department headquarters to interview Rose, who acknowledged being on the bus that day and admitted to striking the victim, the report stated.
Rose was arrested on a charge of battery on a person 65 or older.
As of Thursday afternoon, she was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $3,500 bond.
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