Woman Arrested After Racist Rant, Attack On Bus

UPDATE — A Pearl River woman accused of yelling expletive-laced, racist taunts at fellow passengers on a public bus, and attacking one who was recording her rant, faces new charges connected to the harassment.

Anne Marie Messiano, 57, of Pearl River, faces charges of criminal obstruction of breathing and aggravated harassment in addition to the original disorderly conduct charge, Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco III announced Thursday.

Messiano and several other people were on a Rockland County bus June 30 when she apparently began to scream at the driver and then the other passengers. She can be seen and heard on the video yelling at them to "get the f** out of my country" and then telling them that because of the First Amendment to the Constitution, "I can say whatever the f** I want." On one of the videos, she became further incensed when she saw a passenger making a video of the incident. She allegedly tried to choke him and knock the phone out of his hands.

The driver reported the problem to his dispatcher, Orangetown Police responded. Messiano was removed from the bus and continued to act out in the officers' presence,Falco said. Messiano was arrested on the charge of Disorderly Conduct for her actions outside of the bus.

The Rockland County Sheriff’s Office was asked to investigate the situation further because the initial incident took place in a county operated vehicle. Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office conducted interviews and gathered evidence regarding this incident. Messiano was located and arrested on new charges of Criminal Obstruction of Breathing and Aggravated Harassment in the second degree. Both charges are misdemeanors. She is due in Orangetown town court July 19.

Sheriff Falco stated “Actions like these can never be tolerated on one of our county buses. We
are committed to keeping everyone safe."

For further comment or if you have any further questions, contact Sheriff Louis Falco at (845) 638-5466.

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — An expletive-laden, racist rant by a woman attacking other passengers on a TOR bus Saturday led to an arrest and a video that could go viral.

"You got papers to be in this country?" she said. She dared the bus driver to go ahead and call police. "I hope you all got your m**f** papers. I'm sick of all of you m**f**s."

At about 4:56 pm, the driver called dispatch to report the situation and request law enforcement assistance. The Rockland County Sheriff’s Department and Orangetown Police Department responded.

After exiting the bus near Route 303 and Route 340, the woman was placed under arrest by the Orangetown Police Department, county officials said.

“The type of behavior displayed by this irate passenger is inexcusable,” said County Executive Ed Day. “I applaud the bus driver, passengers and responding law enforcement for handing this situation as calmly as they did. Rockland County will not tolerate these types of divisions any longer. We all have much more in common than any superficial differences that appear to divide us.”

The incident was on Transport of Rockland (TOR) bus #235 operating in service for TOR Route #92.

County officials also praised the driver for following proper procedure.

The Rockland County Executive’s Office and Commission on Human Rights have been in contact with the passenger who recorded and posted the videos to social media, officials said.

“The responses of all involved: law enforcement, bus employees, passengers and all of those on social media who commented or shared these videos clearly show that there is no place for this type of hate filled speech in Rockland County,” Day said.

Warning: strong language