NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – An on-duty MTA bus driver was stabbed in the stomach and slashed across the face by a fare-evading passenger who ripped open a bus door early Tuesday near Brooklyn's Prospect Park, police and union officials said.
The attack happened just after midnight in Prospect Lefferts Gardens aboard a Q line shuttle bus for subway riders impacted by track repairs.
The 39-year-old victim was operating a bus at Ocean and Flatbush avenues just after midnight when a man tried to board the bus between stops without paying the fare. The man pounded on the bus' rear door and then ripped the door off its hinge, according to police and Transit Workers Union Local 100.
An argument between the two men turned physical as the passenger threatened and spat at the driver. He then whipped out a knife and stabbed the bus driver in his stomach and slashed him across his eyebrow, according to police and union officials.
As the physical altercation was taking place, two other men boarded the bus and menaced the victim with a boxcutter, police said.
Someone called 911, and the bus driver was taken in stable condition to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.
The suspected stabber, who’s believed to be about 30 years old, remained on the loose Tuesday.
TWU Local 100 described the victim as a “regular working-class guy who was doing the business of the city,” only to be “subjected to an unprovoked and horrible attack.”
TWU Vice President J.P. Patafio, who visited the victim at the hospital, gave a more detailed account of what happened.
“Someone basically tried to get onto the bus in between stops, and he told the person ‘no,’ so the person proceeded to go to the back door and ripped the back door open, breaking the door,” Patafio said. “And this guy’s cursing, screaming at him, threatening him. He’s reaching into his pocket—at some point [the driver] got stabbed.”
TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said the victim was “sitting up and talking” at the hospital.
“His family is with him. He’s obviously shaken up but is dealing with the trauma the best he can,” Utano said.
TWU Local 100 is calling on the MTA to include bus operator "cockpits" in new electric buses replacing the current fleet. The union said cockpits completely separate the bus operator from the public.
MTA Chief Safety and Security Officer Pat Warren released a statement about the stabbing: “We are working closely with investigators who are determining the facts of this incident. Violence against transit employees or riders is never acceptable which is why we worked so hard in Albany to pass a new assault protection bill.”
On-board cameras from the bus are being shared with the NYPD to help with the investigation, an official said.
Related
Related
Related
