From Ridus.ru:
Marshrutka driver who kicked a girl off into to the cold arrested
On the 12th of March, children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov has confirmed that police have managed to detain the driver of a marshrutka who kicked a girl off in the cold because she couldn’t pay for her journey. “Thank you for your efficiency. This is a landmark case, and it needs to be prioritised”, Astakhov wrote on his Twitter feed on Tuesday.
As RIA Novosti reports, according to a representative of the Interior Ministry, work is underway to determine the driver’s identity. 11 drivers worked on that route on that day, it is still unknown whether the offender is among them. The press service of the capital’s police force refused to give further comment.
The incident occurred on the 11th of March, when a driver refused to take a passenger who was unable to pay the fare, and despite the girl’s age, kicked her out into the cold. Without money or a phone, the girl went to the Losinoostrovskaya train station on foot. The girl’s journey lasted from five pm until midnight. The girl was noticed by a security guard at the station, who realised she was lost and called the police.
Comments from Ridus.ru:
Kosstix:
Well, I can understand the driver. But I’m interested in something else, apart from the 9 year old girl, was there no-one else on the marshrutka?
I suspect that there was, and they all showed true Rashian spirit, and allowed the girl to be kicked off into the cold rather than paying the forty roubles for her.
coyoteOdin: (responding to above)
Well, their “high morals” ™ kicked in “when it mattered”.
Ольга-7757: (also responding to previous commenter)
Not everyone’s the same, we didn’t allow a child to be kicked off into the cold for the same reason, she didn’t have any money.
Dobryak:
“Zhenya said that lots of the drivers who have been arrested often take her for free”. That’s how she lives.
[Note: this quote would appear to come from the Life News coverage of the same story]
denis.borovikov:
What, is this news? Rashians are abysmal people. I’ve encountered it myself more than once.
EDYARD:
It would be good to arrest the passengers as well. Or publish their names openly.
tatuirovkatimati:
Have the parents been arrested for leaving a girl to travel from Moscow out into the surrounding area on her own?
Have the teachers been arrested that let her go alone?
bagimot: (responding to above)
Yeah, exactly
Аnd how about the others, do they have no brains?
What kind of stupid mother leaves her child in the city with no money?
And, I suspect, without a mobile phone?
espera: (responding to above)
I once just walked away while my mum was in the toilet at the doctor’s. I was waiting for her right next to the toilet, but I thought so much time had gone, she must have just left me and gone. So I got up and went home, I was 5.
Товарищ О. Бендер: (responding to above)
Did you get the belt across your arse after?
algentok:
I don’t understand what the driver’s guilty of. He was completely right. It was five pm. Not the middle of the night. It clearly wasn’t the last bus. She could easily have caught another. Worst case scenario, she could have asked for money at the bus stop. No-one would say no to a child. Or the passengers could have …
Yeah, I can understand why he did it. In our town, the drivers are also pretty harsh and kick off pensioners and children when they don’t have money. Because if “as an exception”, they take people without money, then very soon, no-one will have money.
МлечныйПуть: (responding to above)
Pensioners and children up to the age of 7 can travel on marshrutkas and shuttle buses free without making any exceptions.
Dobryak: (responding to above)
But she was 9, not 7.
vl31337:
No problem, this will be a good lesson on surviving in a country where death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Children should understand what’s waiting for them when they grow up.
