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WASHINGTON (AP) — A man attacked a city bus driver, stole the bus, then struck and killed a pedestrian after the vehicle jumped a curb at a gas station in Washington on Tuesday, police said. He was captured and brought to a hospital.
The man, armed with a weapon, stood by the driver for a time and then attacked him, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference. Passengers fled the bus, and the driver hit the emergency button before getting off himself, she said. Lanier did not say what kind of weapon the man had. District Commander David Taylor said he could only confirm that it was not a gun.
The man shut the door and drove off. As the bus pulled into a gas station parking lot, it went over a curb and hit the pedestrian, who was killed, Lanier said. The man appeared distraught and was violent as he resisted officers taking him into custody, she said. He was taken to a hospital, she said. His condition was not known immediately.
Lanier called it a "bizarre incident" that unfolded in the course of a little more than three minutes, ending just five blocks from where the man first boarded.
Metro Transit Police tweeted that the bus driver was hurt, but his injuries were not life-threatening. They say passengers on the bus were not injured.
There's no indication that the attacker knew the driver, Taylor said. He said the bus was not full, but he didn't know precisely how many people were on board at the time of the attack.
On Tuesday afternoon, police had the gas station roped off with police tape. The lights on the bus were flashing, and more than a dozen police cars were at the scene.
Ralph Brown, 42, of Beltsville, Maryland, was at his job as a forklift driver at a liquor distributor nearby when he heard what sounded like a car crash.
"It sounded like a regular accident," he said.
Bus drivers have been attacked before, and a bus being stolen is not unprecedented, but a hijacking such as this is "highly unusual," Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said.
The details of the attack are still being pieced together, but the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, which represents most Metro employees, including drivers, has been calling for a greater police presence on buses and on the rails, said union spokesman David Stephen.
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