Cheryl Jones wants an apology.

From her ex-boyfriend for allegedly assaulting her, lying about it by claiming she was the aggressor.

From her employer King County Metro for “not doing an objective investigation” when looking into it.

And from a member of management who breached a confidentiality policy, smearing her name. That apology eventually came, but she’s still waiting on the other “sorrys” two years later.

“I feel like I’m owed an apology, first and foremost,” Jones said.

Jones’ world turned upside down in October 2014 after discovering her now ex-boyfriend was having an affair with another woman. After breaking up with him, Jones said she agreed to meet him at the King County Metro Component Supply Center in Tukwila, where he works, the next day to “talk about things.”

Jones, a King County Metro driver, showed up that afternoon and confronted him.

Pictures in hand of her ex-boyfriend and another woman, Jones said she was hurt and admitted to “wishing death upon him” before walking toward her car to leave.

But she never made it.

Jones alleged her ex-boyfriend grabbed her by the wrists, crossed her arms and pushed her down to the ground where he held her as he squeezed her face near her mouth.

“When he let me up, I was wet because the ground was wet,” she said. I was covered in water and dirt, the entire length of my backside, and I was bleeding from the right corner of my mouth and jaw. It hurt so bad, I thought it was broken or fractured or something. It hurt that bad.”

Jones announced she was calling the police and he fled the scene.

Tukwila police arrived, as did medical aid, and assessed the scene. As officers were taking down Jones’ account, they got a call that her ex-boyfriend was at the police station. He had a black eye.

“The next thing I knew, the officers were talking and they say, ‘Well, he’s down at the police station and he has a bruise on his eye and he’s saying you did it,’ ” Jones recalled. “I never touched him.”

Jones didn’t know how he got the bruise, nor could she explain how she got markings on the back of her hand, so police arrested her.

She spent the weekend and two business days, for a total of four days in jail.

When she was released, her jaw was visibly swollen.

Immediately, she went to the hospital and then the next day to her dentist, who confirmed her swollen jaw tissue was the cause of two distal fractures in her teeth fillings in records obtained by the Mirror.

Jones hired an attorney and was relieved to learn the charges were dropped. But King County Metro had opened an investigation of their own.

“It was kind of naive of me, but I was thinking it was going to be like on TV. You hire an attorney and then she’ll take care of everything,” she said. “She’ll dig into the case, find out what’s wrong or whatever, what’s going on, and try to get to the bottom of things.”

So Jones was surprised when she got a proposed letter of discipline in the middle of December stating that they were going to suspend her for 30 days without pay with termination to follow.

King County spokesman Scott Gutierrez said King County has “strong policies prohibiting violence in the workplace and is a leader in providing services to support and protect employees who may be victims of domestic violence.”

In this case, Metro conducted an internal review of the incident after learning that one employee had been arrested on suspicion of striking another.

“Physically assaulting another employee at the workplace is considered gross misconduct and grounds for termination under Metro policy,” Gutierrez said. “In this case, Metro made a disciplinary decision after interviewing both employees, reviewing a Tukwila police investigation of the incident, and considering any mitigating circumstances.”

In the Tukwila Police Department’s report, officers noted Jones’ nick on her face and the dirt on her back, but essentially took her ex-boyfriend’s story at face value.

He claimed Jones was a scorned lover, upset with him for moving on from their relationship. He told police he was “over” their relationship already and that they hadn’t been seeing each other.”

Further, his swollen eye was swelling by the minute and his calm demeanor combined with Jones’ minimal injuries led police to determine she was the primary aggressor – information King County investigators relied on.

“Even so, with medical and dental documentation, the fact that I had injuries to both sides of my face, they fired me,” she said. “At that point, yeah, going on 18 years of employment.”

Jones said their “proof” wasn’t clear or convincing. She said investigators twisted and manipulated things, which she argued against during a grievance hearing in February 2015.

Yet, not totally confident that her termination would be overturned, she sent an email to Metro’s general manager explaining her side.

Jones was able to prove her ex-boyfriend was lying to police when he told them she was “scorned” by providing recent text messages that showed them in a committed relationship.

All of the sudden, she was rehired.

“I told him if they didn’t give me my job back, then I was going to sue,” she said, adding that she still might.

Not only had she lost months worth of health benefits and pay, Jones returned to her 18-year career with a letter of discipline in her file for a crime she says she was actually the victim.

Although she’s unsuccessfully filed a torte claim for that loss, the icing on the cake came after learning a manager somehow let slip that Jones’ had a disciplinary action against her.

“A member of management told her husband what was going on who then told other employees,” she said. “King County is funny. King County is really funny.”

But Jones’ biggest problem is she felt like nobody listened. Nobody advocated for her.

“My life for the last two years is a living hell,” Jones said in tears. “I try to keep myself together but I’m struggling for something I didn’t do. I didn’t do it and nobody’s listening.”

She hopes King County reassesses the way they conduct investigations in the future because they have people’s “livelihoods at stake.” Livelihoods like Jones’s who takes care of her 19-year-old daughter who has a serious fainting disorder and suffers from depression.

Still, despite it all, Jones considers herself lucky. After all, she has her job back.

Now all that’s left is the apology.