By Courtney Dentch
A handicapped Brooklyn man held a 2 1/2 hour sit-in in the path of a Green Bus coach in Jamaica last Thursday after four successive buses could not accommodate his wheelchair.
For 90 minutes, Anthony Trocchia, 33, of Williamsburg, sat at the corner of Jamaica Avenue and Queens Boulevard waiting for a Q60 bus with a working wheelchair lift that could take him to LaGuardia Community College.
After the fourth consecutive bus to stop at the corner could not bring him on board, Trocchia, who has muscular dystrophy, maneuvered his wheelchair in front of the coach and refused to move, reports said.
The bus was taken out of service, and passengers were shuffled onto another vehicle.
Joining Trocchia in his impromptu sit-in were about a dozen members and volunteers from the Queens Independent Living Center, an advocacy group for the disabled, whose offices were down the block. Hearing the commotion, they converged on the scene in a show of support.
Bus company representatives arrived to quell the protest but called police when the angry crowd refused to disperse, reports said. Police allowed the sit-in to continue until about 12:30 p.m.
The bus company could not be reached for comment.
