Protesters call for boycott of motorcoach company after close encounter

YOUNGSTOWN — A Cleveland-based motorcoach company has come under fire on social media after one of its drivers reportedly instigated an intense encounter with protesters during a citywide march on May 31.

Zachary Sunderman, a college-level sociology professor, earlier this month on his Facebook page called for a boycott on Baron's Bus Lines of Cleveland and shared video from the brief standoff, which happened just after 5:30 p.m. that day at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West Commerce Street after the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past "March for Justice" rally.

The charter bus driver, who just before the encounter was picking up passengers at that intersection's Western Reserve Transit Authority station, pulled out of the bus station lot toward Fifth Avenue, intending to turn toward the Spring Common Bridge.

The driver encountered Sunderman and others — who at the time were marching from the Mahoning County Justice Center just across the street — as they were crossing Fifth Avenue toward West Federal Street, intending to march to the Youngstown Police Department.

The driver, whose path was blocked by the line of marchers, then slowly encroached on the group, frightening them, Sunderman told Mahoning Matters.

"It looked like the bus was just going to stop there, then a few seconds later, he actually let off the brake and started proceeding further — he came within, literally, inches," he said.

The marchers then stopped and began shouting at the bus driver, striking the side of his bus with their hands and throwing objects toward it, as seen in the Facebook video.

You can watch that video below. Be advised it contains strong language:

Youngstown Flea owner Derrick McDowell, who followed marchers throughout the day until the citywide curfew took effect, can be seen in the video coming between the bus and marchers, and urging them to continue down Fifth Avenue.

"I began to run over, noticing the bus was creeping forward and didn't stop. The crowd's response to that became frustrated and angry," he told Mahoning Matters. "I recognized this moment, in saying to myself, 'This could get really bad here, when you have this behemoth-sized bus creeping into the crowd."

Sunderman's Facebook post drew mixed reaction, with several detractors — many of whom don't live in the area, according to their Facebook profile — criticizing the marchers for holding up traffic.

"If you would cross the street like normal people do, that wouldn't happen." said one commenter who represented himself as the Baron's Bus Lines driver involved in the incident. "I blew the horn to attract police. … If anyone should have been arrested it was you the protesters for impeding flow of traffic."

Others, whose Facebook profiles indicate they work for another motorcoach company based in Yellow Springs, in Greene County, came to the driver's defense, claiming the protesters presented a threat.

Surveillance footage from WRTA's downtown station obtained by Mahoning Matters, however, seems to show the driver made the first move.

You can watch that video below. The incident can be seen near the upper-right edge of the frame:

"There's been accusations the crowd was there to block his path, but that was not true," McDowell said.

He questioned why the bus didn't exit the lot heading east on Commerce, to avoid the crowd, as advised moments before by a WRTA security guard.

"He still turned left," McDowell said. "From that statement alone and what I witnessed, I can't tell you his intent was to be malicious, but I can tell you it was intentional. … He just didn't seem concerned with the activities that were occurring. You can be right, have the right-of-way, but still be wrong in this moment.

"What you see from the crowd is their response to his behaviors."

Sunderman's post also drew vague threats from others representing the motorcoach industry, he said. Sunderman said those threats are now being investigated by Youngstown Police Department.

Sunderman said other social media responders were "outright commending" the driver, or claimed they "would have gone further; they would have just run over the protesters.

"It has been a little bit of an eye-opener, a wake-up call, to realize this kind of sentiment is so pervasive in a democracy," Sunderman said.

Brian Lyons, executive assistant to city Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, told Sunderman in an email last week his complaint would also be forwarded to city prosecutors. On Tuesday, city Law Director Jeff Limbian told Mahoning Matters he was aware of the incident but did not know if city police had concluded their investigation.

Sunderman said others who reached out to Baron's Bus Lines directly were told the company would be conducting an internal investigation, but Mahoning Matters was unable to confirm that Tuesday.

A representative we reached by phone Tuesday said company executives were unavailable for comment, and instead suggested we send an email. We sent the company the video and Facebook posts, but have yet to receive a response.

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 8:05 AM with the headline "Protesters call for boycott of motorcoach company after close encounter."