Bus operator in viral video fined total of $37,000 for road traffic breaches

The Manchester bus operator who was captured in a 2019 viral video in an altercation with a policeman has been fined a total of $37,000 or 51 days in prison for offences committed two years earlier.

Jermain Reid, 45, was fined in the Manchester Parish Court today after he pleaded guilty to breaches of the Road Traffic Act.

Reid was charged for transporting up to 35 students as opposed to the 22 he was licensed to carry, having heavily tinted windows, failure to provide a badge, graffiti on a public passenger vehicle, and not wearing his uniform.

The charges were laid in October 2017.

When Reid appeared in court this morning, he was to be tried for the October 2017 offences as well as those committed in February 2019 when he had the altercation with the policemen.

However, his lawyer was not present.

Parish judge John Thyme then decided to hear the 2017 charges.

However, he blasted Reid for delays in the matter and sternly warned that his attorney must be present for the assault trial and the hearing of the 2019 offences involving the policeman.

Those matters are expected to be heard before the court in Spaulding on March 26, 2021.

In February 2019, Reid was shot and injured by a policeman after he attacked cops who had arranged for his bus to be towed for breaches of his road licence.

In a video that went viral, an infuriated Reid could be seen shoving the policeman then later engaging in a tussle.

Gunshots soon echoed and the bus operator was seen on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. 

- Tamara Bailey.

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