
An argument that started on a Metro bus and spilled outside in Woodland Hills left the driver stabbed and in critical condition and a 17-year-old boy in custody, police said.
The confrontation occurred about 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 24, near Erwin Street and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, with the driver stabbed more than once, officials said. It’s unclear what ignited the dispute.
Suspect pic.twitter.com/fW54nRX4xw
— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) May 25, 2023
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who also serves as a Metro board member, was at the hospital Wednesday night. She met the family of the driver, who had surgery that night. He is a husband and a father.
“The driver is still not out of the woods yet,” the mayor said during Metro’s Board of Directors meeting on Thursday. “We need to keep him in our prayers.”
LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said at the meeting she had heard from doctors on Thursday morning: “He did try to open his eyes this morning, and the doctor said that was a good sign,” she said.
Shortly after the stabbing, the Los Angeles Police Department put out photos of the suspect caught on surveillance video, probably from the bus. Thursday afternoon, the department announced it had arrested the teenage boy in those photos — originally estimated by officials to be perhaps 21 years old.
Details were not provided on how he was found and on the arrest, for suspicion of attempted murder, that occurred Thursday afternoon.
“There’s no means of justifying this, but we want to somehow try to explain it,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said during a press conference near the stabbing site on Thursday afternoon, announcing the arrest.
Moore asked for the family of the bus driver to be given privacy as the driver recovers.
“I know that there’s a lot of questions regarding the driver, his background, and his time with (Metro),” Moore said. “This is a man who is worthy of respect and admiration, but the family is asking for privacy and distance.”
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The attack was the latest violent encounter involving the Metro transit system, which has come under fire from some critics and elected officials over safety …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment