By Ankita Joshi
ALAMEDA, CA – Defendant Faye Adams was issued a stay away order for all AC Transit buses in her area Tuesday, despite protests by her defense here in Alameda County Superior Court that such as stay away for all public transportation could be deemed unconstitutional.
Adams is facing charges for slapping a stranger across the face after the stranger interjected herself into a conversation Adams was having with the bus driver.
Public Defender Eric Mirzaian outlined the details of the incident, noting Adams was allegedly agitated while on the AC Transit bus and kept requesting to get off. However, her requests were ignored as the bus driver maintained they had a route that they had to follow.
As Adams was requesting to get off the bus, the victim in this case interjected and asked Adams to calm down. In response, Adams allegedly slapped her across the face. 
Adams was then detained shortly after at the next bus stop, and the victim identified her as the one who had hit her.
Mirzaian contended that since Adams had no prior convictions, and had only one failure to appear, she offers no flight risk and should be released without bail on one’s own recognizance (OR).
However, Deputy District Attorney Ashley Carvolth requested that bail be set for $50,000 for other reasons not mentioned by Mirzaian.
DDA Carvolth noted that, in addition to slapping the victim across the face, Adams had also taken her iPhone which was found on her person when she was detained.
Additionally, Adams had another pending charge from June for another incident on an AC Transit bus where Adams had punched the bus driver on the back of the head. And she was found to be in possession of a small amount of heroin.
And finally, DDA Carvolth noted that her records showed that Adams had five failures to appear, rather than one.
For all the reasons stated above by the prosecution, Judge Jacob Blea ruled that bail would be set and ordered a stay away order for AC Transit buses.
At this, Mirzaian asked for a point of clarification of whether the stay away order was for all AC Transit buses or only a specific few. And contended that the stay away order for all AC Transit buses is “over broad and unconstitutional.”
Judge Blea responded that since Adams had two pending charges of violent incidents that occurred on AC Transit buses, for now, the stay away order would apply to all AC Transit buses.
Adams proceeded to enter a not guilty plea, and further proceedings were scheduled for later this month.
