Woman says son's stinky diaper got them kicked off Metro bus
SEATTLE -- A local mother claims a dispute over a stinky diaper got her kicked off of a Metro bus.
Nichole Hakimian says she was trying to get her son to a medical clinic on Tuesday afternoon when the driver of the bus asked her to get off. The driver allegedly told her the odor of her 1-year-old son's diaper was too much too handle.
"And he had just pooped in his diaper as soon as I got on, because he was having diarrhea," she said. "And right after that, she told me I had to get off the bus."
When Hakimian asked the driver why, the driver gave what Hakimian calls a shocking answer.
"She says, 'Your baby -- he smells really bad, and it's not fair that we all have to smell that,"' she said. "I said, 'My son is sick. I'm taking him to a doctor's appointment."
But Hakimian says the driver stopped the bus and let her out roughly a half mile from the clinic.
Sick toddler in tow, Hakimian, who is four months pregnant, tried her best to keep cool.
"Right next door where I'd gotten off, there was a little clinic. So I went in and changed his diaper, and I proceeded to call Metro and file a complaint with them," she said.
Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer released the following statement to KOMO News: "Based on reports, this appears to be a very unique situation. Our goal is always to balance the comfort of all of our riders with providing good customer service. We are investigating the complaint, and will get a report from the driver to confirm what happened and that proper procedures were followed."
After filing the complaint, the mother and son caught the next bus to the clinic where they learned the toddler was suffering from stomach flu.
After what she went through, Hakimian says she, too, feels sick.
"I feel like I was being discriminated against and bullied. And it made me feel like crap. It really did," she said.
King Country Metro says it plans to interview the driver and investigate the incident. The driver has been working for them for nine years, has an excellent record, and is a mother and grandmother too, the agency said. Metro says the driver felt terrible about the situation but had to look out for other passengers on the bus.
Nichole Hakimian says she was trying to get her son to a medical clinic on Tuesday afternoon when the driver of the bus asked her to get off. The driver allegedly told her the odor of her 1-year-old son's diaper was too much too handle.
"And he had just pooped in his diaper as soon as I got on, because he was having diarrhea," she said. "And right after that, she told me I had to get off the bus."
When Hakimian asked the driver why, the driver gave what Hakimian calls a shocking answer.
"She says, 'Your baby -- he smells really bad, and it's not fair that we all have to smell that,"' she said. "I said, 'My son is sick. I'm taking him to a doctor's appointment."
But Hakimian says the driver stopped the bus and let her out roughly a half mile from the clinic.
Sick toddler in tow, Hakimian, who is four months pregnant, tried her best to keep cool.
"Right next door where I'd gotten off, there was a little clinic. So I went in and changed his diaper, and I proceeded to call Metro and file a complaint with them," she said.
Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer released the following statement to KOMO News: "Based on reports, this appears to be a very unique situation. Our goal is always to balance the comfort of all of our riders with providing good customer service. We are investigating the complaint, and will get a report from the driver to confirm what happened and that proper procedures were followed."
After filing the complaint, the mother and son caught the next bus to the clinic where they learned the toddler was suffering from stomach flu.
After what she went through, Hakimian says she, too, feels sick.
"I feel like I was being discriminated against and bullied. And it made me feel like crap. It really did," she said.
King Country Metro says it plans to interview the driver and investigate the incident. The driver has been working for them for nine years, has an excellent record, and is a mother and grandmother too, the agency said. Metro says the driver felt terrible about the situation but had to look out for other passengers on the bus.
I would say that this a total injustice for the woman and the culprit should be charged too. Since the baby had a disease so one should help the mother rather than leaving her to drop down the bus. I think if the mother would have bought an another diaper and changed it there only then it would have been an another problem.
Â
Â
Unfortunately for Metro she was pregnant. Â Some lawyer most likely contacted her after reading this story, no lawyer would take this case if they didn't think they could win it.
 @keri555 Win it in terms of what? In order to bring a civil suit you have to show damages. You have to show that there was a tort that requires compensation. What should she be compensated for? Having to change her own child??
Â
Of course I'm sure she can shop her case around until she finds an attorney willing to sue for taxpayer dollars (Metro is financed by you, don't forget), but if she loses she's stuck with the attorney's fees, and if she can't even afford cab fare, she most certainly doesn't have the resources to retain an attorney.
 @keri555 As a society we are very litigious, which is sad.Â
 @keri555 Attorneys go for a sure case most of the times, but there is always some one looking to make a name. This won't go far.....Metro might pay her some hush money just to make her bad self go away. Someone posted this one's Facebook link up here and when you go to her FB page she's acting all bad. PLEASE!Â
why do some people assume she is on welfare? and that "the government" needs to "limit" the # of children? move to China, they'll appreciate your attitude.Â
 @my_opinions I'd assume she's on welfare just by the entitled way she is treating the bus driver and other passengers. Everyone around her is expected to deal with her problems without complaint, and if they say anything or hold her accountable, she retaliates. She is ENTITLED to your unconditional support. You MUST breathe her child's waste without complaint.
Interesting - this went national, and suddenly (According to ABC's morning show, which has it on yahoo's sitye),  she was not let of 1/2 mile from her child's doctor's office - but now it's a MILE AND A HALF AWAY. And, she had nothing to say about her claim here that she was ":discriminated against and bullied" by being asked to get off the bus. And (of course we all knew it was coming...) she is "thinking about suing". Wonder if that means the distance will become even greater if it goes to an international level? Perhaps it will be that she was let off 10 miles away in the rain & dark and had to trudge uphill all the way.
Â
Way to keep it classy.
I find it so interesting in so called "liberal" and "green" Seattle people would look down on a pregnant woman with a child taking the bus. Just because the baby pooped doesn't give the driver the right to do this. I thought taking the bus was good for the environment? Perhaps she isn't a poor single mom, maybe she takes public transportation because she wants to reduce her carbon footprint.
Â
With these gas prices, rising cost of living costs, more and more people cannot afford to drive anymore.
Â
Seattle is becoming a meaner and meaner city.
@struth206 Here is the proof for the driver's rights written in policy & procedures: In extreme circumstances, operators may refuse transportation to a customer or group of customers who, because of their behavior or inability to care for themselves, may jeopardize the safety or comfort of you and your customers. Examples of extreme circumstances are: -customers who pose a potential security problem -customers who are severely ill. -customers who are extremely intoxicated or impaired. -customers with extreme personal hygiene problems.
 @struth206 Driver discretion gives the driver the right to make decisions that others may or may not agree with. I am sick of the "woe is me" mentality people have. It happened, let it go and move on.Â
Ick is right. Pulling the Good Mother bit, crying how she was bullied, what rubbish. Get a grip. Own it, yer kid took a crap, be the BETTER person and excuse yourself off the bus in courtesy to others since it is a public place. Change the diaper (as she had to do, to get back on another bus) and go on. Crying victim, blaming the bus driver is just WRONG. No free tickets for a month why reward this ridiculous behavior? And she's 4 months preggy? Ugh.
Ick she's a winner.  Who keeps getting her preggo?
 @Grumpiestoldman Post your pic, I am sure you look like a model!
 @Chipwrecked  @Grumpiestoldman i know right....mean people SUCK
Stuff happens. I think many adults smell worse than a baby's diaper. I have ridden the bus in Seattle a few times for work, and I smelled the stank reek of alcohol seeping out of a bums skin which made me want to puke, people that had not showered in what may have been weeks. I think Metro should give her a free bus pas. If the mom had just said "that's not my baby's diaper, that is just how I smell" I am sure she would have stayed on that bus.Â
If she uses the bus for her main mode of transportation, believe Problem solvers should contact Metro bus and request they give her a free one month bus pass for her troubles
really...who gives a damn that her eyebrows are tattooed? or that she is overweight? and, God forbid, pregnant with another child? and ethnicity? no where in this article or video was there any mention of her financial or marital status...only that she takes a bus which i think is actually a very good idea.
who are we to judge?
 @my_opinions Nobody, apparently - we're just the faceless, worthless public expected to breathe her bodily waste without daring to say anything or complain.
I'm glad the driver told her to get off the bus - let her complain all she wants. Since when do the rights of the few outweigh the rights of the many? Leave the driver alone!
 @Mean Jeannie Then I am sure more than half the riders would have been kicked off for their body odor smells. Kick them off too!
If you're going to kick one person off the bus because they stink, then they need to be kicking everyone else off the bus that stinks.Â
 @BVU07mazdaguy THANK YOU
I just clicked on an e-mail response from this forum - and was informed that a file named "decide-(1).php" from komonews.com had been downloaded to my computer.
Needless to say, I did not open it - but I have strong objections to unrequested downloads from any site I do not specifically request.
The file will be sent to Komo, hopefully will not happen again.
The child had the flu, the mother should have found another form of transportation in the first place. She expossed a bus full to the flu.
 @Lady6 Actually it was a stomach VIRUS. Influenza is a completely different thing and there is no such thing as a "stomach flu". And stomach viruses need to be transferred by touching something with bodily fluids on it from the sick person. Granted it is still gross to have to sit on a bus with a baby with a diaper full of diahrrea. The human things would've been to ask how much farther they had to go and when the driver found out it was only a 1/2 (probably what? Two stops at the most?) let her get to the doctor. And if it was longer gently explain she'd need to get off the bus, change the diaper and catch the next one without just kicking her off like she did something wrong.
 @Lady6 She did not know it was stomach flu until she got to the dr. Stomach flu is not airborne and therefore, unless you touched the baby's poop or kissed him smack on the lips, nobody was at risk.Â
 @Chipwrecked Yes but the mother was touching the baby then she had to get on the bus, so holding the hand rail, touching the seats, etc. Contact virus = touching things.Â
 @Lady6 it was the stomach flu, this is NOT an airborne sickness like tuberculosis! It is a contact virus, which means you have to come in contact with the diarrhea, not wash your hands good, then introduce it into your body! Or eat or drink after that child! So highly unlikely anyone would have caught it just from the smell. So all you who catch something like this it is because
#1 you either ate or drank after someone who had it or
#2 you are not washing your hands good! EWE
Babies have a tendency to catch it because they put every thing they come in contact with in there mouths!!!
 @cajunurse  @Lady6 How does anyone know what this child had without physically seeing the child.  You can't diagnose a child by reading a story.  Maybe he had something entirely different. Â
 @cajunurse  @Lady6 That is why it was once or  still is called hand to mouth disease.
Â
This is rediculous, my husband was on a bus where the driver was texting and Metro hasn't responded. We ride the bus everywhere it's our only transportation, and we've been on there with adults that reek and no one kicks them off.Â
 @Rebecca Darnell Was he texting while driving or texting while at a stop? You don't really say what sort of texting. I don't see anything wrong with texting while on the job so long as you aren't doing it whilst driving.
 @Rebecca Darnell Get a job. Buy a car.
What's nuts is that as soon as this woman got off the bus she called KOMO news to report the story. Why? Once the complaint was lodged with Metro, who is looking into it, why make this news? Also, from what I was told by someone who was on the bus, the odor wasn't just bad, it was gaggingly nauseating to the point that the driver literally could not drive the bus without endangering the passengers, and the odor was gagging the passengers. This is a terrible situation, but let's use some common sense here. If it was out in the middle of nowhere and a desperate situation for help that's one thing, but this was not the case here. I hope the baby is OK now.
There is no right or wrong here. The mom seems to be trying to do the right thing and I feel bad for the mom, but if her baby had diarrhea, she should have found other transportation. The risk of the bodily fluids coming in to contact with the other passengers, and not knowing the baby's overall health is too risky. Also, what if the bus was full and the other passengers couldn't simply move to get away from the smell? I know there is an array of wonderful smells to experience, and we get what we pay for, but the driver really did have to think of the others on board.
 @cr8zychick Sure there is right here, that the bus driver had the decency to speak to this issue and wrong that this broad calls her local station and wants to sue Metro. I hope Metro fights this ridiculous lawsuit threat vigorously. And in the future to those stinky adults who reek, they too should get das boot.
diarrhea can kill...especially with vomiting...in the young and elderly. just sayin'
Instead of waiting for a bus that could have been running late or full, why didn't mom spring for a cab? It could have provided a much quicker and comfortable ride then waiting for a bus...
What about people who don't believe in proper hygiene? Who have body odor, bad breath, smell lunch bags? I mean come on, seriously??Â
People mention it was for only another 1/2 mile & that she should have been able to stay on for a few more minutes.  What if she was going a further distance... 2 Miles.. 5 Miles.. 10 Miles.. At which point do you say "ok your kid stinks & you need to get off the bus" (not exactly like that).
Â
Â
@choliscott You simply don't say it. You take her to her destination, she paid for her ticket.
 @Chrystal L Negatory, Chrystal Meth. If da baby poop, he outa da loop.
@Chrystal L So does this mean that the unrudly, loud, obnoxious, etc people should be able to ride because they paid for her ticket ?
Also at which point do you need to sacrfice your own comfort for someone else's? (Using a oranges to apple's comparison). If person A gets on the bus at the first stop & is the only one on & decides to open a window because its warm. Should the next person that gets on & sits right in front of you be able to close the window because they are cold?
YES
This bus driver not only told this mother to get off the bus, but made a 1 year old sick baby walk to the clinic. Â I couldn't do that. Â I am sorry but this poor kid wasn't feeling good by no falt of his/her own and couldn't control when he/she pooped and the bus driver kicked the baby off the bus. Â
 @keri555 I am pretty certain the mother had a stroller or something for that child and didn't "make" him walk to the clinic. Also (not mentioned in this comment but in the story itself)  there is nothing wrong with being 4 months pregnant and being forced to walk half a mile to a clinic. I have walked miles to work when I didn't have bus fare and was 8 months pregnant. Walking is good for you. In the past have been kicked off the bus when my son threw up from motion sickness (it happens from time to time so no worries). I had a barf bag but the driver couldn't handle the smell. It's at the driver's discretion how comfortable they feel about smell/conduct etc. It was no big deal and I didn't think to call the press about the ordeal. Snit happens, deal with it and go on with your life. If this happened on an airline people wouldn't be so up in arms about it. They would be ever so grateful that the stinker was removed from the craft prior to liftoff.Â
 @PrairieDawn  @keri555 I would have no problem walking as well and think it's great for a pregnant lady too but she wasn't kicked off because she was pregnant.  The issue is that the bus driver really kicked the 1 year old off because he stunk and I just wouldn't have the heart to do something like that.  It wasn't the kids falt and I think it's pretty mean.  If the lady stunk and she had a 1 year old with her I would still feel bad because it isn't the kids falt.  If the lady was by herself and stunk, no problem kick her off, and I wouldn't feel bad, it's the kid that gets me in this story.
@keri555 I couldn't personally either. Of course I would be praying that her stop would be the next one, but my luck she would be going to the end of the route.Â