A man was arrested Wednesday for disorderly conduct after allegedly grabbing bus riders and whacking them with his hat.
Antonio Martinez, 41, was riding a Madison Metro bus when he began exhibiting ""strange and erratic behavior"" and attempted to stop passengers from leaving the bus, according to Joel DeSpain, public information officer for the Madison Police Department.
When the driver of the bus was unable to control Martinez, police quickly responded and were able to get him off the bus at East Mifflin Street around 5:30 p.m.
According to DeSpain, Martinez did not appear to be armed or under the influence of alcohol, but questions were raised about his mental health.
""I don't know what his deal was, but it's not OK to do that on a Madison bus,"" DeSpain said. ""And when you have an incident like this you have to have zero tolerance for it.""
Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch said there is a passenger code of conduct and when people are disrupting that or disturbing others, it is taken very seriously. According to Rusch, the driver of the bus followed proper procedures.
""We have a lot of people riding the bus now, and different things can happen. There are a lot of people interacting with each other,"" Rusch said. ""It's just something that drivers have always been trained to do and be on the lookout for. When it does happen, we just take care of it.""
