CLEVELAND, Ohio- Shidea N. Lane, the young Black woman who made national news last year for getting uppercut, choked, and thrown from a Regional Transit Authority (RTA) bus by since fired bus driver Artis Hughes, pleaded no contest on Tuesday to misdemeanor disorderly conduct before Shaker Hts Municipal Court Judge K. J Montgomery and was found guilty.
She will be sentenced next month and faces a maximum $250 fine and 30 days in jail.
The criminal charge, brought by the City of Beachwood where the incident occurred, was heard in Shaker Hts court, which hears traffic and misdemeanor cases and some civil lawsuits from Beahwood and other neighboring municipalities.
"We were there for support and the judge did not want to here anything from Shidea's attorney on the bruises she allegedly got, " said Valerie Robinson, 76, a member of the Imperial Women and Stop Targeting Ohio's poor, and a retired Cleveland schools teacher.
Imperial Women, a greater Cleveland grassroots organization for women, had called for a not guilty finding or probation before judgment, which would have stopped a criminal record.
Hughes (pictured) , 59, was charged with misdemeanor assault for his attack on Lane following a bus altercation on Sept. 18 and pleaded no contest on April 2, though Montgomery found him guilty and set sentencing for a later date. He faces up to six months in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine.
The incident at issue, a divisive one to say the least, occurred on the border of Cleveland and Beachwood, Oh. and went viral because of a cell phone video that hit Youtube.com Watch the video of the episode below.
Attorney Friedland, Lane's attorney, said that Hughes repeatedly called Lane a bitch during the argument that led to Hughes ultimately punching Lane in the face before he literally tossed her off the bus on to the curb.