Should attacks on bus drivers lead to harsher penalties?

The COTA driver clung to her purse, screaming as the passenger ripped her from the driver’s seat, out of the stopped bus and onto the sidewalk. He tore the purse from her grasp and took off running. Police would catch up with the man they believe robbed the driver two months later and charge him with two felony counts of robbery. Transit agencies, though, say most assaults on their drivers are prosecuted as misdemeanor crimes.