McNeil talks problems with First Transit

Stan McNeil, former LX bus driver, holds no animosity against anyone involved with his loss of employment with First Transit. He said his focus is now on love and making the world a better place. When the Rutgers community needs him, he said he would be here.

“I don’t want any ill feelings toward anyone. I’m praying all the time for the people of the world,” McNeil said. “It’s no reason to be upset … I prayed for her … It’s no reason to be upset with anybody.”

McNeil said First Transit, the bus service operator Rutgers employs, asked McNeil to resign after he placed his hands on a wheelchair-bound girl in prayer and secured her wheelchair incorrectly.

In an email, Stephanie Creech, spokeswoman for First Transit, said a full internal review revealed that McNeil failed to follow a critical safety protocol.

“There are four points of restraint for safely securing a wheelchair on a bus,” Creech said in an email. “Mr. McNeil secured only two of them. First Transit’s safety guidelines state that ‘failure to properly secure wheelchairs, or other mobility devices, is identified as a safety offense appropriate for discharge.’”

Creech said in her email McNeil chose to resign.

McNeil said First Transit emphasized the fact that he prayed for the girl rather than how he secured the wheelchair.

“They specifically told me that ‘you prayed for her and you laid hands on her, that’s not accepted here, we don’t need your services anymore,’” McNeil said.

McNeil said First Transit told him he was a nice guy and offered to let him resign rather than terminate him.

He said he closed his eyes to focus when he prayed for the girl and did not notice the way she reacted.

“She was on my bus before, and I mentioned to her ‘I believe there’s a healing for you,’” McNeil said. “I was praying that she would be healed.”

He said he asked the girl if she felt like she could move, to which the girl said she could not.

McNeil stands strongly behind what he did. He said he feels no anger toward anyone.

The former LX bus driver sat down, white prayer shawl draped over his shoulders, and clutched a bright green envelope, which turned out to be a card from a student with a brain injury.

“I was struggling, and I felt a bit defeated,” the card said. “But there you were every week on my way to the disability services office, telling me that I was going to do well.”

The outpouring of love McNeil has experienced in the past few weeks from students has been a humbling experience, he said.

“The cards, they call me, it’s just been such a wonderful experience with this,” he said. “[The students] know that I pour out my heart to them and my love to them, and it’s just being reciprocated.”

Students have reacted to McNeil’s resignation by signing an online petition and voicing their opinions on social media platforms.  The number of supporters who signed the change.org petition is up to 8,344 people and growing.

“That shows that they’re standing up for me because I’ve always stood up for them,” he said.

McNeil said he wants students to keep growing and inspiring each other. He wants them to know their lives are limitless.

“You should expect to be a millionaire, so you live your life in that way,” McNeil said. “Whatever you want, live that way.”