[photo by Kevin P. Casey]As the Times reports, a jury has found King County liable because a Metro driver failed to come to the aid of a couple being assaulted on a No. 7 bus. It’s ironic blowback for Metro. For as Huan Hsu extensively reported last spring, the agency specifically discourages its drivers from trying to stop onboard mayhem–in part out of fear of a lawsuit. As Hsu wrote:”Drivers are to remain in their seats ‘when possible,’ according to the Metro operations manual. Violating these policies can earn the driver a ‘performance report’ or P.R. Too many of these demerits, and a driver faces suspension or termination.””‘The whole system expects us to take abuse,'” Hsu quotes a driver saying.See Hsu’s story here and his first story (in which he asked, what exactly does it take to get thrown off a Metro bus in this town?) here.