Detroit bus driver who died of coronavirus days after posting viral video featured in TIME magazine

Apr 10, 2020 at 4:31 pm
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click to enlarge Detroit bus driver who died of coronavirus days after posting viral video featured in TIME magazine
Screengrab, Jason Hargrove Facebook

Jason Hargrove, the 50-year-old Detroit bus driver who died of the coronavirus days after posting a viral video complaining about people who weren't taking the pandemic seriously, is honored in the new issue of TIME magazine.

The new issue, "Heroes of the Frontlines," profiles some of the "courageous workers risking their own lives to save ours." His wife, Desha Johnson-Hargrove, spoke to the magazine about her husband.

Johnson-Hargrove says her husband was a jovial man who was proud to be a bus driver, and took his job very seriously, even bringing Lysol in his backpack to disinfect seats for his riders. But he was disturbed after a woman was coughing on his bus without covering her mouth, and posted a rant on his Facebook.

"When he got home, he was so upset about it.," she says. "He was like, 'Why did she do that? These people just don’t care and are not understanding what’s going on in this world.'"

Hargrove died 11 days after posting the video, after spending three days in the hospital due to experiencing difficulty breathing. Johnson-Hargrove says she doesn't want her husband's death "to go in vain."

"I’m praying that everybody is receiving his message," she says. "I’m pleading with the world, to please, if you do not have to be out here, stay home. I can’t stress enough that you don’t want to be this person sitting here with your loved one gone."

Mayor Mike Duggan said "everybody in America" should watch the video.

You can read the TIME article here.

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