A 39-year-old man was sentenced to less than a year in prison after a video showed him going on a slur-laden outburst at a bus driver in London, England.
Michael Mongan was charged with a racially aggravated public order offense and criminal damage for an incident on a public bus on Aug. 7.
According to The Independent, Mongan reportedly tried to board the bus that day but was turned away because he did not have enough money to pay for a ride.
Mongan’s lawyer claimed that a good Samaritan had offered to pay Mongan’s bus fare, but the driver still refused to let him board.
A video that circulated on social media shows an enraged Mongan in a black shirt lashing out at the driver and yelling Islamophobic and xenophobic slurs at him.
“You terrorist b*****d! You Muslim, Arab b*****d!” Mongan is heard yelling in the video.
Mongan then spits at a plexiglass panel the driver was sitting behind, appearing to aim at the driver’s face before deboarding the bus and continuing to yell slurs.
The driver is seen waving at Mongan to approach him again and try to physically assault him, but Mongan encourages him to get off the bus so they can settle the dispute one-on-one.
As the altercation continues, Mongan is seen boarding the bus again and punching the panel he previously spat at.
The video ends with Mongan continuing to demand the driver deboard the bus with him so they can continue the confrontation outside.
“You are big man! Come at me!” Mongan says to the driver.
Mongan was trying to hitch a ride on public transportation that day while he was out on bail for other offenses he was charged with.
In an incident on July 27, Mongan drunkenly attacked a local betting shop. He hit the windows of that shop with a large stick, then racially abused a staff member. After he was taken into custody, he also made racist statements to a police officer driving a van.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of racially aggravated behavior, one charge of criminal damage, and one count of causing damage to a police vehicle for that attack.
His racist tirade against the bus driver happened just 10 days after that incident.
A judge sentenced him to 10 months in prison for the betting shop attack and the incident on the bus.
“This was appalling racial and religious abuse over a sustained period of time,” Judge Ian Comfort said, according to The Independent. “Your behavior (occurred) when there was violent disorder in other parts of the country against Muslims and other groups.”
He was also ordered to pay restitution to the bus driver, betting shop staffer, and police officer he racially abused.
After the judge read him that order, Mongan told him, “They won’t see a pound of it from me.”
