A driver with the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) has been suspended with pay after a video surfaced in which he's heard screaming at a female passenger as she stands precariously near the open door of a moving bus.

In the video, the woman stands with her back to the open door, arguing with the male driver and threatening to call police. The driver, who can't be clearly seen in the video, screams at the woman to get off the bus and calls her the French word for slut.

The bus moves a short distance before stopping abruptly. At times, the woman's leg dangles out the door.

The video doesn't show what precipitated the incident. The witness who provided the video to Radio-Canada said prior to the shouting match the woman was standing behind the driver talking on a cellphone.

The witness said it occurred around 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27, near the Gabrielle-Roy campus of the Cégep de l'Outaouais.

STO apologizes

STO spokesperson Sophie St-Pierre said the incident was "unacceptable," and the driver had been suspended indefinitely while the transit agency investigates.

"First and foremost I'd like to apologize to the customer and all the other customers that have been witness to this event. This is absolutely unacceptable to us."

She said regardless of what may have happened prior to the incident, the driver should not have responded that way.

"It doesn't matter to us how this situation came about. We have some process and it's unacceptable that they weren't followed and that situation escalated the way it did."

Guy Gosselin, president of the union that represents STO drivers, said they intended to do their own investigation.

"There's a lot of missing information at this stage and we're going to do our own investigation," he said in a French-language interview.

Gosselin said the driver has worked for the STO for several years.

With files from Radio-Canada