The union for Los Angeles Metro bus drivers wants better safety measures for its members. Over the weekend, in less than 24 hours, there were two violent and bloody events on transit buses.
The first stabbing on April 13 happened at about 1:45 a.m. on a Metro bus near Sunset Boulevard and Benton Way in the Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A.
KTLA got a video of the scene that shows paramedics carefully lifting a customer off the bus and onto a gurney. The person was bleeding and had been stabbed several times. The man needed to get to the hospital right away.
Not much is known about what happened before the horrible killing, but police were able to catch a suspect who had gotten away on Benton Way north of Sunset.
The police haven’t said anything new about the victim’s situation.
Around 8:30 p.m. that same night, in South L.A., the suspect yelled at the Metro bus driver and then beat him badly when the driver stopped the bus at East 119th Street and Wilmington Avenue, according to detectives.
The Sheriff’s Department said, “The suspect punched the victim in the face and then proceeded to stab the victim.”
The person who tried to kill the driver got off the bus and ran north on Wilmington Avenue. They are now wanted for attempted murder.
A kind person named Erika Diaz was behind the bus when it stopped. She heard the bus driver’s heartbreaking screams for help and then saw a young guy in his 30s standing outside her car.
He told KTLA’s Chris Wolfe, “He had so much blood in his chest, and no one was helping him.” “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.'”
After that, she rushed the bus driver to a nearby hospital.
KTLA was told by a representative for the L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority that the driver has been freed and is now healing at home.
When Metro said something about the stabbing, they said:
“Metro is saddened to hear about this senseless act of violence against our bus driver. It seems that drug abuse and untreated mental illness played a role in this, as these are problems that affect the whole country.”
Diaz, who said she has been in touch with the driver, thinks it might take him longer to heal emotionally than physically from the stressful event.
“This is a young man who almost died on the job,” she said.
The last time there was violence, on March 21, a 24-year-old man with what looked like a pistol took over an L.A. transit bus and caused several accidents in downtown L.A. before crashing into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The group for L.A. bus drivers is calling for the following safety improvements:
Full protective shells for drivers
Security guards with guns
Anyone who hits a Metro driver will be charged with a felony and given a long prison term.
Alarms that go off quietly to let cops know about a disturbance or a live shooter
Officials from the union say that all transportation companies should be required by the federal government to take these extra steps in order to stop problems like hijacking and violence like what happened last Saturday.
L.A. Metro has said that it will add more security bus riding teams, make all of its barriers stronger, and teach its bus workers how to calm down situations before they get out of hand.
