Chronic Masturbator Ignored By NJ Transit, Lawsuit Says

Editor's note: This article contains graphic sexual details.

NEW JERSEY — Six NJ Transit bus drivers claim the agency failed to protect them from a passenger who masturbated several times while riding their vehicles, according to a lawsuit against the agency. The drivers repeatedly reported the man for three years — starting in 2019, when they reported him for masturbating while riding the bus, the complaint states.

The reports included verbal and written complaints to garage supervisors, control-center personnel, the NJ Transit Police Department and NJ Transit's general counsel, according to the lawsuit. But little was done, and one supervisor even told a driver, "You're a mother, you've never seen a penis before?" the complaint says.

One driver demanded to know whether NJ Transit was waiting until the man raped someone, the lawsuit says. A garage supervisor told her that NJ Transit would take action when something "really" happened, the complaint states.

The lawsuit says that NJ Transit told the plaintiffs — all Black women who have worked for the agency for between six and 22 years — to keep reporting the man so the agency could "build a case" against him. During those three years, NJ Transit supervisors and authorities repeatedly told them the agency couldn't protect them unless the man physically touched one of them or a minor was present while he masturbated, the complaint says.

The lawsuit was filed May 25 in Superior Court in Essex County. An NJ Transit spokesperson told Patch that the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The drivers work in the Washington garage in Camden, where an advisory posted in April said the man pleaded guilty in November to lewd behavior, the report states. The advisory, which appeared to be a draft, said NJ Transit employees may refuse to let the man access buses, as part of his plea agreement, according to the lawsuit.

But in the five months between the guilty plea and NJ Transit's advisory, the agency never told the six drivers about the terms of the plea agreement, the lawsuit says. Several of the bus drivers said they reported the man for trying to board the bus between November and April, and one driver said in the lawsuit that he rode her bus during that time.

The complaint cites a state Supreme Court ruling from a Toys 'R' Us employee's lawsuit against the company — Lehmann v. Toys 'R' Us, Inc. In the landmark sexual-harassment case, the court ruled in 1993 that employers with "actual knowledge" of harassment must "promptly and effectively act to stop it."

In a separate lawsuit that concluded in 2020, a New Jersey jury awarded $2.4 million to a former PNC Bank employee who said the company failed to protect her from a customer's unwelcome touching.