A video has gone viral of a woman attacking a person on a bus in the U.K. She thought the person had stolen her earbuds, only to find them in her bag.
The incident happened on a bus in London.
Shortly after the commotion, the person who was accused appeared to have a panic attack.
Netizens are erupting with praise for the victim and harsh words for the accuser.
A woman physically wrestles away a pair of earbuds from a stranger on a bus
Image credits: Jacob Pretorius/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
Image credits: Kaspars Grinvalds/stock.adobe.com (Not the actual photo)
The video is being shot by a third person. We see a woman in a black shirt and shorts in a commotion with another person who has reddish-pink hair and a brown sweater.
The woman, who later speaks Brazilian Portuguese, is repeating in broken English that the other person “stole” her earbuds as she manhandles the person with pink hair, who says, “Call the police!”
The woman in black continues to accuse the other person, wrestling the earbuds from their hands. She finally says, “Let me check my bag.”
She quickly unzips the bag and zips it back up again as the person filming interacts with the person accused of stealing.
Again, the woman in black repeats, “Let me check my bag.” The person filming encourages her to do so.
Image credits: Cardoso
While the person with pink hair is telling the person filming that they can prove their identity and that the earbuds only work with their phone, the woman in black conducts a more thorough check of her bag.
Suddenly, she says, “Oh my god,” and pulls out a pair of identical earbuds from her backpack.
“You can’t attack people on buses”: The accused tells the accuser to back off
Image credits: Cardoso
An awkward moment of silence. Then she says with conviction, “But it’s the same, it’s the same,” as if to explain how she might have been confused.
She then offers to exchange her earbuds for the other person’s, to which they say, “They won’t work with my phone!”
The person filming tries to defuse the situation, saying, “Ok, so you have yours then.” The person with pink hair says, “You can’t go around attacking people on buses.”
The person filming encourages the woman in black to apologize, which she does.
The person with pink hair walks a few steps away, then collapses on another seat, before sliding to the bus floor. Eventually, the person stands up and walks to the exit.
By this point, the woman who had accused the person with pink hair is visibly upset and starts speaking to someone in Brazilian Portuguese.
Image credits: Cardoso
“I’m afraid now,” she says, “I thought he had taken it from me, they pretty much look the same.”
“Even this looks the same,” she says while pointing to the cable
“And then I received a message saying the AirPods weren’t connected. That’s when I thought he had taken them from my bag,” she pleads.
A bystander relays the woman’s account to the accused, who said before leaving the bus:
“Lady, if you think people’ve stolen from you, call the police. And have them sort it out. Don’t attack them physically.”
“Smart phones, stupid people”: Netizens react to the incident with support for the accused
Image credits: Cardoso
The entire altercation is firing up netizens, who are showing overwhelming support for the person who was wrongly accused.
Most people are saying how embarrassing it is for the accuser and how she should have been more apologetic. “Smart phones, stupid people,” one person said.
A few people have suggested that the woman saw her own earbuds the first time she unzipped her bag and was trying to stall.
And still others suggest she might have been doing something even more sinister—trying to scam the victim out of their earbuds by “offering” hers as a replacement.
“No way in h*ll I’m accepting somebody’s used (possibly counterfeit) earpods as a replacement for breaking mine. Nope,” someone said.
Comments on Portuguese-speaking social media channels have been similar in their support for the victim.
One person asked if the woman thought she was on the CPTM, a commuter rail system in the Greater São Paulo area, which is known for having high levels of theft and pickpocket incidents.
Brazil is notorious for its theft and pickpocket incidents on public transport
Image credits: Cardoso
It’s interesting to note that robbery and theft are rampant in Brazil’s megacities.
According to a report by InterLira, a risk consultancy group from São Paulo, theft on public transport in the city has been and continues to be a problem.
“Cases of robberies and thefts on public transport showed an increase in 2023 compared to 2022. Last year, 33,992 cases were recorded, which represents an average of approximately 2,833 per month and 93 per day,” the report explained.
Brazil’s theft and pickpocketing epidemic is widely known.
In fact, the U.K. government’s official travel website warns British tourists in Brazil to be vigilant while on public transport.
“Robberies are common in many cities, particularly on buses. Thieves target mobile phones, particularly between 4pm and 9pm. Attackers may be armed and under the influence of drugs. Do not resist attackers. If threatened, hand over your valuables without resistance,” the website reads, which, coincidentally, is exactly how the English person responded when their earbuds were confiscated by the woman.
Pickpocket thefts occur in major cities around the world
Image credits: I’M ZION/Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
And it’s not like there are never any thefts on London’s public transport either.
According to Transport for London, there were more than 4,000 incidents of pickpocketing on buses in 2023.
Typically, the TfL says, incidents of theft are higher on the city’s underground train network, nicknamed the Tube.
Pickpocketing is considered a problem in many European cities, including Paris, Barcelona, and Milan.
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Netizens say the woman who wrongly accused someone else of stealing her earbuds was way out of line
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