StarTran bus driver fired, accused of assaulting rider

StarTran bus driver caught beating a rider on video and then dragging him onto O Street was fired this week. Troy Fischer, 43, punches the 40-year-old man 18 times in the video while the bus was at 84th and O streets on March 23. He then throws the passenger to the floor, before dragging him out of the bus as the man holds onto the door. Fischer leaves the man in the eastbound lane of O Street and takes off, making a left-hand turn into the Southeast Community College campus. "I put him off the bus," he tells his supervisor over the radio in the video shot by cameras on the bus. "It wasn't pretty." City Public Works and Utilities Department Director Miki Esposito on Friday said Fischer was fired Thursday after he had an opportunity to rebut allegations against him during a disciplinary hearing. She also released footage from the four bus cameras.