The story of Richard Thomas and Sasha Fleischman was explained in vivid detail by the author, Dashka Slater. The true story of two teenagers took place on November 4th, 2013 in Oakland, California on “The 57 Bus”.
Seventeen-year-old Sasha Fleischman was born in 2005 as Luke Alexander Fleischman. Sasha always felt out of place in their body, and never felt like specifically a boy. They never understood this feeling until one day when their friend explained similar feelings.
Since that day, Sasha began to go by they/them pronouns, not identifying as a boy or girl, and is asexual, meaning they do not have sexual attraction to others. On November 4th, 2013, Sasha was wearing their skirt that they felt most comfortable in, and got onto the 57 bus. They were very tired, and their stop was not for another hour. With this, they decided to take a nap on the bus.

Thirty minutes later, they were awakened by flames, burning their legs. What must have felt like minutes, strangers immediately jumped into action and helped Sasha, getting rid of the fire. Sasha was taken by an ambulance to a burn unit in San Francisco, and their burns were dealt with there. They had to undergo many surgeries, but a few months later they were back to school, and trying to live their life the way they previously did again, dressing the same, and trying to keep attention off of themselves.
Six-year-old Richard Thomas had a pretty tough life growing up. Not financial wise, but more violence and chaos.
At the young age of 9-11, his aunts were killed. His mother took in the daughters of her sisters. Early 2013, Richard’s best friend was shot and killed in an East Oakland parking lot, whilst Richard was in a group home. The death of his best friend hit him hard. Later in the year, Richard was robbed at gunpoint. The individuals robbing him were known for killing, so he was sure he would be shot and killed, that he was next. He did as they said, he kept calm, and was robbed of his money, phone, coat, and sneakers.
It was an eye opener for him, but he was just glad he was not killed, and was able to keep walking. Richard was a good kid, but he always struggled with school. He was trying his absolute best to do better in school, and graduate. He was so very close, and he had even started getting his grades up. However, the week after the robbery occurrence, Richard made a decision that completely changed his life.
Richard’s cousin, 18-year-old Lloyd Rhodes came to Oakland High School, to get Richard. He apparently pressured Richard to leave school with him. Apparently, this happened often, so today was no different. Richard walks out with Lloyd, and they catch the 57 Bus. Lloyd was making fun of a young boy wearing a skirt. He and his friends repeatedly lit the fire on the lighter, and put it close to this individual’s skirt, Sasha.
Lloyd told Richard he should do it. Richard did not think much of it. Richard’s stop was next. Without thinking, he put the lighter close to Sasha’s skirt, thinking maybe Sasha will wake up and put the fire out with their hand really quickly. However, this was not the case, and Sasha’s skirt burst into flames. Richard had already ran out of the bus, but the moment he saw the blaze of fire, he was frozen.
He wanted to go back and help. He couldn’t move his feet, he was scared, frozen. Later that week, he was picked up from Oakland High School by police officers, where he was handcuffed, and read his rights. Without a lawyer, Richard answered things he shouldn’t have, and because of that, they got a confession out of him. He was sentenced to 5 years, and was set to get out before his 20th birthday. He was first charged with hate crime, which is a felony charge, and assault.
Richard was charged as an adult, which resulted in the media releasing his full name. Later, the hate crime charge was dropped, because of the fact that he was in fact not homophobic, and did not even know the meaning and depth of the term, leading to a false confession, resulting in the charge to be dropped. However, he was still being charged as an adult for assault, and enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury to Sasha Fleischman. “Richard Thomas pleaded no contest to felony assault in October. His original seven-year sentence included an enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury on Sasha Fleischman, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to the legs in the Oakland attack on Nov. 4, 2013.” (Article from KQED.)
He deeply regretted it, and still regrets his decision. He wrote letters to Sasha while awaiting trial, but Sasha would not receive those letters until months later. Richard’s lawyer did not think it was a good idea.
The Fleischman family has forgiven Richard for his actions, and wished him the best. They spoke at his trial, making it clear that they did not want Richard to be charged as an adult, and that he is a child that made a mistake. Richard was released in June 2018, weeks before his 21st birthday. It is unknown where either Sasha or Richard are today, but it is hoped that they both are doing well, and have changed their lives around from this situation.