On Jan. 27 a 20-year-old white man was attacked on a bus by three black teenagers while traveling back from Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa.

Shannon Ferguson, a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, was the victim of the attack, when he was called racial slurs and punched and kicked by the teenagers.

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City violence sometimes spills over from the street onto the Milwaukee County Transit System.

On Jan. 27, a 20-year-old white man was attacked on a bus by three black teenagers while traveling back from Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, according to a police report.

Shannon Ferguson, a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, was the victim of the attack, in which he was called racial slurs and punched and kicked by the teenagers.

According to Joe Caruso, marketing director for MCTS, the case was a spontaneous incident in which several teenagers were acting up.

Within three minutes, Caruso said, Wauwatosa police and MCTS security were on the scene. MCTS contracts with Wackenhut Corp. Security.

When police were called, the teenagers ran but were eventually apprehended, according to the police report.

Caruso said MCTS calls their security if there are simple disturbances on the bus, but if there is a fight, both the police and the security are called. The security personnel MCTS uses are trained law enforcement officers who can detain suspects until police arrive, but do not carry guns.

"If we had had some inkling that the group was rowdy, we might have called security to either follow the bus or ride on the bus," Caruso said.

Fights on the buses are rare, according to Caruso.

"Four million people rode on MCTS in January. During that time, there were 10 fights on the buses," Caruso said.

The majority of fights occur between high school students after school, Caruso said.

According to Shayne Collins, 16, who was riding the bus Monday, people get into fights on the city buses because they do not want to get in trouble at school. He said when the bus drivers call the police, the perpetrators just run away.

Collins was riding the same route from downtown to Mayfair that Ferguson was attacked on two weeks ago.

Montnile Veasy, 19, who was riding the bus with Collins, said people get into fights on buses because they feel tough when all their friends are with them.

"It's all about respect and sometimes people start fights for no reason," Veasy said.

The teenagers said they have both seen fights before on the bus.

According to the police report for the Jan. 27 fight, Ferguson got on the bus at Mayfair Mall and teenagers began to play with his hair.

Ferguson turned around and told the teenagers to "relax" then faced forward again. One teenager kicked him in the back of the head and the bus stopped at 6700 W. North Ave.

Ferguson got up to leave the bus and the teenager hit him in the face and back of the head.

Once the teenagers got off the bus, the bus driver closed the door and called the police. One teenager got back on the bus and attacked Ferguson again, then left.

They used racially-charged language, calling Ferguson "a cracker" as they attacked him.

According to Deputy District Attorney Pat Kennedy, the case will go to the probation department, which will conduct a social background of one of the teenagers, interview the child and parents then send its recommendation to the district attorney's office.

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