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'Help me, help me': Metro bus driver stabbed, reviving fears about safety

Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times on

Published in News & Features

"We don't want anything else to happen to any other bus driver," said Sheriff's Det. Mathew Fraijo, who is investigating the case and has asked for the public's help in locating Bray.

A video from a passenger at the back of the bus on Line 53 was posted on Instagram and Facebook this week.

For most of the recording, the camera is pointed to the floor but the confrontation can be heard.

"Get off the bus," the suspect demands before taunting the driver. "Are you scared, bro?"

There's a commotion. Then the bus driver begs for mercy.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry. Sorry," he says. Then he bursts out in a cry. He was punched in the face with brass knuckles and then stabbed in the chest, according to Fraijo. "Help me, help me, help me, help me!" he wails.

 

The short video clip suddenly ends, as the passenger taking the video escapes out a back door. Fraijo said the attacker fled down the street and the driver got out of the bus and went looking for help in the other direction.

A good Samaritan picked him up and took him to Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. The driver, who has not been identified, is now recovering at home.

"Metro is saddened to hear about this senseless act of violence against our bus operator, which was apparently fueled by drug abuse and untreated mental illness — crises that are plaguing our nation," said Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo.

Fraijo said the suspect is being sought for attempted murder and a potential hate crime.

When the attacker, who is Black, first boarded the the bus a block or two earlier, Fraijo said, he had been ranting about how people like the bus driver, who is Latino, were taking away "their jobs."


©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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