A DART contract driver has been arrested for sexually assaulting a mentally disabled passenger.
Samson Lemma, 44 Wylie, is being held on a charge of sexual assault of a disabled person.
Lemma's job with DART was to drive people with disabilities, Garland police said.
Police were alerted to the claims by the 23-year-old woman on June 6th.
“The female had conveyed to her family that while she was being taken to her place of employment by this DART contract driver she was sexually assaulted,” said Lt. Richard Maldonado. “There was a camera and the camera did catch footage of our victim and our offender on the bus. There were just two people on it. There is a point in time where it appears that the driver of the bus obstructed the view of the camera. And we believe when that took place that’s when the actual offense occurred.”
Lemma is no longer with DART.
“As soon as we received the complaint that day, the subcontracted operator was immediately pulled from service and their vehicle was impounded,” DART said in a statement e-mailed to KRLD news. “We informed MV Transportation that the operator would never operate for DART again. The operator was a driver for Big Star Transit, a subcontractor for MV Transportation, the DART contractor for our paratransit services.”
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