Detroit bus driver's widow: 'There's no goodbyes. There's no anything'
Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit NewsPublished 6:20 p.m. ET April 6, 2020 | Updated 9:17 p.m. ET April 6, 2020
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Desha Hargrove says she can't be certain her husband's death was caused by a woman's coughing fit on his city bus last month, but she believes the incident and his coronavirus infection are connected.
Desha Hargrove with her husband, Jason, a DDOT bus driver who died of COVID-19. (Photo: Hargrove family)
Jason Hargrove's death made national headlines last week after he died from COVID-19 just days after his angry Facebook post about a passenger who boarded his DDOT bus March 21 and coughed without covering her mouth.
Hargrove, a 50-year-old father of six, suffered a great deal before dying by himself in the DMC's Sinai-Grace Hospital, his wife said. Because of concerns about spread of the highly contagious virus, Hargrove, like other COVID-19 patients, was not allowed visitors.
"There's no goodbyes. There is no anything," Desha Hargrove said. "I was like please, I hope he is so heavily sedated that he doesn't even realize he is alone because that would have devastated him. My husband would have wanted us by his side. Knowing that these loved ones are just left to die alone is just the most heart-wrenching thing ever to me."
In his post, Jason Hargrove sounded the alarm about the dangers of coronavirus and the potential threat to him and other essential workers from people a woman like the passenger who didn't cover her cough.
"This is real," the driver said. "Y'all need to take this serious. ... I feel violated. I feel violated for the people that were on the bus."
The bus driver's widow, who spoke with The News by phone, also expressed her anger toward the woman who coughed on his bus in an email.
"SHAME ON YOU!!! I truly hope you have asked God to forgive you for your negligent behavior, Desha Hargrove wrote. "(The woman who coughed) took away A GREAT HUMAN BEING!! I’ll never get to hear him COUGH again. It is a possibility. It is my belief that something transpired because he was not well after that."
Desha Hargrove said her husband was wearing a mask that day as he drove his routes on Detroit's west side, ferrying city residents to jobs, medical appointments and other destinations.
She said her husband pulled the bus over and tried to disinfect the bus but never approached the woman because he liked to maintain professional decorum with passengers.
Desha Hargrove said the incident incensed her husband to the point that he constantly talked about it when he got home the day. The next day, he mentioned feeling "weird" with a malaise that would eventually morph into something bigger.
"He started out with the fever," she said. "He called my son and I into the room and he was just kind of like, 'I don't feel too well. My body feels kind of off. I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. I feel funny.'"
By March 23, Jason Hargrove, normally a jovial man full of laughter, was lethargic and "really wasn't himself," his wife said.
A day later, he was so sick that he asked her to take him to the hospital. Medical staff checked him out and sent him home with orders to quarantine himself and take cough syrup, Tylenol and blood pressure medicine.
"The fever started to just progressively get worse," said Desha Hargrove. "He started the coughing. The coughing was pretty bad. The cough syrup wasn't doing anything."
A few days later, Hargrove started experiencing "extreme chills" and his fingertips began to turn blue, said his wife, who took him back to the hospital. Again, medical personnel sent him back home after checking him out.
"They listened to his lungs. His temperature was 99," said Desha Hargrove. "They said they were no signs to them that required immediate attention as far as the oxygen to where his cuticles were blue."
At home, he began "rapidly" deteriorating, she said.
"He was just getting worse and worse," she said. "He was like lethargic. You could tell he was out of it. He was so miserable."
On March 29, Desha Hargrove said her husband told her to take him back to the hospital because he was not able to catch his breath or stop coughing.
"He said, 'I need some oxygen. I can't breathe. All I need is some oxygen,'" said Desha Hargrove, who dropped her husband off at the hospital.
It was the last time she saw him alive.
"I never got to see him," she said. "I kept texting his phone just begging for a reply ... a response ... something. I just knew I was going to get the call saying, "OK babe, come get me. It never happened."
Desha Hargrove said she only found out about her husband's death when she called the hospital Wednesday of last week to see how he was coming along.
"My husband had died and no one even told me, to be honest," she said.
A DMC spokesman declined to comment on Hargrove's case.
On Monday, Desha Hargrove was awaiting a call from a Detroit funeral home so she could make final arrangements for her husband. She said she is saddened by the restrictions that the COVID-19 outbreak has forced funeral directors to make for services.
"It would be my heart's desire, of course, to be able to honor my husband well," she said. "I know that there's some restrictions. I try not to have my hopes high for a particular type of service and then be let down."
Desha Hargrove said her husband loved his job as a city bus driver.
"He felt like he was the president of the United States. ... That's how proud he was to move the citizens of Detroit," she said.
"They're transporting everybody ... all kinds ... from everywhere," said Desha Hargrove. "Give them what they need. My husband's death was so unnecessary ... negligence (by) a person. I'm just hoping all this brings a little more awareness and people really, really take (the COVID-19 outbreak) serious."
Detroit bus driver's widow: 'There's no goodbyes. There's no anything'
article
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit bus driver who went live on Facebook two weeks ago to complain about a coughing bus rider has died of Covid-19.
The driver’s name is Jason Hargrove. It’s not known right now how old he was or when he died, but the DDOT Drivers’ Union will be making a statement soon on Thursday.
Hargrove went live on Facebook about two weeks ago to complain about a woman who was on his bus, coughing repeatedly without covering her mouth. (Producer’s note: the video contains foul language.)
“I’m trying to be the professional, they want me to be and I kept my mouth closed, but it’s at some point in time where you got to draw the line and say enough is enough. I feel violated; I feel violated for the folks that were on the bus when this happened. There was about eight or nine people on the bus that stood there as she coughed and never covered up her mouth,” Hargrove said in his video.
It’s not known right now when exactly Hargrove became sick or if his sickness could be connected to the female passenger.
Hargrove also pleaded in his video for other bus passengers to take social distancing and Covid-19 seriously.
“This is real. Ya’ll need to take this serious. This is real. I’m out here, we out here, we're moving the city around back and forth trying to do our jobs and be professional about what we do,” Hargrove said.
Mayor Duggan talked about the loss of Hargrove weighing heavily on the City Thursday.
“Everybody in Detroit and everybody in America should watch [Hargrove's Facebook live video]. Because he was infected before we closed the front doors and he tells the story of a passenger getting on the bus and coughing on him, and, some of his language is graphic, but I don’t know how you can watch it and not tear up. He knew his life was being put in jeopardy - even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day - by somebody who just didn’t care. Somebody who didn’t take this seriously. And now he’s gone," Duggan said.
Duggan also said Thursday that eight DDOT workers have tested positive for Covid-19 and 133 others are currently quarantined right now.
Bus services in Detroit are still operating right now, though at limited capacity.
Though on March 17, bus service was canceled entirely due to a shortage of drivers. Many of them called in sick that day to take a stand, saying the City was not doing enough to address their health and safety concerns amid the virus crisis.
After that day, Duggan decided to stop collecting fares and to close the buses front doors and have riders board and de-board in the back, which he referenced earlier, saying that Hargrove got sick before this decision was made.
At the time Hargrove went live on Facebook, he didn’t seem to be upset that the city’s bus system was still operational.
“I ain’t blaming nobody, nobody. Not the city, not the mayor, not the department, not the state of Michigan, not the government, nobody. Not the president – I blame that woman who stood on this [expletive] bus and coughed. It’s her fault. It’s people like her who don’t take this [expletive] for real why this [expletive] is still existing and still spreading,” he said.
He called the woman’s actions disrespectful.
"Every time I see images of a group of people still clustering in this city or this country, I think about the Jason Hargroves on the buses; I think about the cops; I think about the nurses and the doctors in the hospitals who are going to work for you every single day, and for you not to honor the social distancing request you're putting really good people like Jason Hargrove’s lives on the line," Duggan said. "I hope the people of this City and the people of this country will watch his video and listen to his words because it’s the message this country needs to hear."
All Michiganders have been told to stay home to help slow the spread of the virus, and if they must go out for essential shopping or business to keep their distance from strangers.
Detroit bus driver dies of Covid-19 weeks after complaining of passenger's cough
Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit NewsPublished 6:20 p.m. ET April 6, 2020 | Updated 9:17 p.m. ET April 6, 2020
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Desha Hargrove says she can't be certain her husband's death was caused by a woman's coughing fit on his city bus last month, but she believes the incident and his coronavirus infection are connected.
Desha Hargrove with her husband, Jason, a DDOT bus driver who died of COVID-19. (Photo: Hargrove family)
Jason Hargrove's death made national headlines last week after he died from COVID-19 just days after his angry Facebook post about a passenger who boarded his DDOT bus March 21 and coughed without covering her mouth.
Hargrove, a 50-year-old father of six, suffered a great deal before dying by himself in the DMC's Sinai-Grace Hospital, his wife said. Because of concerns about spread of the highly contagious virus, Hargrove, like other COVID-19 patients, was not allowed visitors.
"There's no goodbyes. There is no anything," Desha Hargrove said. "I was like please, I hope he is so heavily sedated that he doesn't even realize he is alone because that would have devastated him. My husband would have wanted us by his side. Knowing that these loved ones are just left to die alone is just the most heart-wrenching thing ever to me."
In his post, Jason Hargrove sounded the alarm about the dangers of coronavirus and the potential threat to him and other essential workers from people a woman like the passenger who didn't cover her cough.
"This is real," the driver said. "Y'all need to take this serious. ... I feel violated. I feel violated for the people that were on the bus."
The bus driver's widow, who spoke with The News by phone, also expressed her anger toward the woman who coughed on his bus in an email.
"SHAME ON YOU!!! I truly hope you have asked God to forgive you for your negligent behavior, Desha Hargrove wrote. "(The woman who coughed) took away A GREAT HUMAN BEING!! I’ll never get to hear him COUGH again. It is a possibility. It is my belief that something transpired because he was not well after that."
Desha Hargrove said her husband was wearing a mask that day as he drove his routes on Detroit's west side, ferrying city residents to jobs, medical appointments and other destinations.
She said her husband pulled the bus over and tried to disinfect the bus but never approached the woman because he liked to maintain professional decorum with passengers.
Desha Hargrove said the incident incensed her husband to the point that he constantly talked about it when he got home the day. The next day, he mentioned feeling "weird" with a malaise that would eventually morph into something bigger.
"He started out with the fever," she said. "He called my son and I into the room and he was just kind of like, 'I don't feel too well. My body feels kind of off. I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. I feel funny.'"
By March 23, Jason Hargrove, normally a jovial man full of laughter, was lethargic and "really wasn't himself," his wife said.
A day later, he was so sick that he asked her to take him to the hospital. Medical staff checked him out and sent him home with orders to quarantine himself and take cough syrup, Tylenol and blood pressure medicine.
"The fever started to just progressively get worse," said Desha Hargrove. "He started the coughing. The coughing was pretty bad. The cough syrup wasn't doing anything."
A few days later, Hargrove started experiencing "extreme chills" and his fingertips began to turn blue, said his wife, who took him back to the hospital. Again, medical personnel sent him back home after checking him out.
"They listened to his lungs. His temperature was 99," said Desha Hargrove. "They said they were no signs to them that required immediate attention as far as the oxygen to where his cuticles were blue."
At home, he began "rapidly" deteriorating, she said.
"He was just getting worse and worse," she said. "He was like lethargic. You could tell he was out of it. He was so miserable."
On March 29, Desha Hargrove said her husband told her to take him back to the hospital because he was not able to catch his breath or stop coughing.
"He said, 'I need some oxygen. I can't breathe. All I need is some oxygen,'" said Desha Hargrove, who dropped her husband off at the hospital.
It was the last time she saw him alive.
"I never got to see him," she said. "I kept texting his phone just begging for a reply ... a response ... something. I just knew I was going to get the call saying, "OK babe, come get me. It never happened."
Desha Hargrove said she only found out about her husband's death when she called the hospital Wednesday of last week to see how he was coming along.
"My husband had died and no one even told me, to be honest," she said.
A DMC spokesman declined to comment on Hargrove's case.
On Monday, Desha Hargrove was awaiting a call from a Detroit funeral home so she could make final arrangements for her husband. She said she is saddened by the restrictions that the COVID-19 outbreak has forced funeral directors to make for services.
"It would be my heart's desire, of course, to be able to honor my husband well," she said. "I know that there's some restrictions. I try not to have my hopes high for a particular type of service and then be let down."
Desha Hargrove said her husband loved his job as a city bus driver.
"He felt like he was the president of the United States. ... That's how proud he was to move the citizens of Detroit," she said.
"They're transporting everybody ... all kinds ... from everywhere," said Desha Hargrove. "Give them what they need. My husband's death was so unnecessary ... negligence (by) a person. I'm just hoping all this brings a little more awareness and people really, really take (the COVID-19 outbreak) serious."
Detroit bus driver's widow: 'There's no goodbyes. There's no anything'
DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit bus driver who went live on Facebook two weeks ago to complain about a coughing bus rider has died of Covid-19.
The driver’s name is Jason Hargrove. It’s not known right now how old he was or when he died, but the DDOT Drivers’ Union will be making a statement soon on Thursday.
Hargrove went live on Facebook about two weeks ago to complain about a woman who was on his bus, coughing repeatedly without covering her mouth. (Producer’s note: the video contains foul language.)
“I’m trying to be the professional, they want me to be and I kept my mouth closed, but it’s at some point in time where you got to draw the line and say enough is enough. I feel violated; I feel violated for the folks that were on the bus when this happened. There was about eight or nine people on the bus that stood there as she coughed and never covered up her mouth,” Hargrove said in his video.
It’s not known right now when exactly Hargrove became sick or if his sickness could be connected to the female passenger.
Hargrove also pleaded in his video for other bus passengers to take social distancing and Covid-19 seriously.
“This is real. Ya’ll need to take this serious. This is real. I’m out here, we out here, we're moving the city around back and forth trying to do our jobs and be professional about what we do,” Hargrove said.
Mayor Duggan talked about the loss of Hargrove weighing heavily on the City Thursday.
“Everybody in Detroit and everybody in America should watch [Hargrove's Facebook live video]. Because he was infected before we closed the front doors and he tells the story of a passenger getting on the bus and coughing on him, and, some of his language is graphic, but I don’t know how you can watch it and not tear up. He knew his life was being put in jeopardy - even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day - by somebody who just didn’t care. Somebody who didn’t take this seriously. And now he’s gone," Duggan said.
Duggan also said Thursday that eight DDOT workers have tested positive for Covid-19 and 133 others are currently quarantined right now.
Bus services in Detroit are still operating right now, though at limited capacity.
Though on March 17, bus service was canceled entirely due to a shortage of drivers. Many of them called in sick that day to take a stand, saying the City was not doing enough to address their health and safety concerns amid the virus crisis.
After that day, Duggan decided to stop collecting fares and to close the buses front doors and have riders board and de-board in the back, which he referenced earlier, saying that Hargrove got sick before this decision was made.
At the time Hargrove went live on Facebook, he didn’t seem to be upset that the city’s bus system was still operational.
“I ain’t blaming nobody, nobody. Not the city, not the mayor, not the department, not the state of Michigan, not the government, nobody. Not the president – I blame that woman who stood on this [expletive] bus and coughed. It’s her fault. It’s people like her who don’t take this [expletive] for real why this [expletive] is still existing and still spreading,” he said.
He called the woman’s actions disrespectful.
"Every time I see images of a group of people still clustering in this city or this country, I think about the Jason Hargroves on the buses; I think about the cops; I think about the nurses and the doctors in the hospitals who are going to work for you every single day, and for you not to honor the social distancing request you're putting really good people like Jason Hargrove’s lives on the line," Duggan said. "I hope the people of this City and the people of this country will watch his video and listen to his words because it’s the message this country needs to hear."
All Michiganders have been told to stay home to help slow the spread of the virus, and if they must go out for essential shopping or business to keep their distance from strangers.
Detroit bus driver dies of Covid-19 weeks after complaining of passenger's cough
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