BOSTON — A Boston commuter who was arrested in connection with a forceful shove on an MBTA bus that sent a woman flying onto the concrete faced a judge on Thursday.
Luz Pineda, 32, was arraigned in Roxbury District Court on a charge of assault and battery on an elderly person after a startling encounter caught on camera allegedly showed her delivering a violent push that sent the victim face-first onto the sidewalk earlier this month.
A plea of not guilty was entered on behalf of Pineda.
Officers responding to an MBTA bus that was parked at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Warren Street on the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 8, found a 63-year-old woman on the ground near the bus suffering from an eye laceration.
Prosecutors told the court that surveillance and cellphone video captured the confrontation, showing the suspect aggressively yelling at the elderly woman and throwing her shopping cart off the bus before the shove.
In the days that followed the alleged incident, prosecutors say Pineda tried to alter her appearance, but with the help of the public, MBTA Transit Police identified and arrested Pineda on Wednesday.
The victim told investigators that she has no memory of the shove, possibly due to a concussion and broken blood vessels that she suffered in the incident.
Pineda’s attorney told the court that his client was transporting her 3-month-old child, who was born prematurely, home from an appointment a Boston’s Children’s Hospital when the incident on the bus unfolded.
Pineda’s attorney also argued that the victim was preventing his client from getting off the bus.
Pineda was ultimately ordered held on $5,000 bail on the conditions that she stay away from the victim, avoid the MBTA, and have no contact with witnesses if she posts bail.
She is due back in court on Oct. 3 for a pretrial hearing.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
