A Liberty Lines bus driver was punched in the face through an open window Tuesday morning in Yonkers after a passenger grew impatient waiting for the rear door to open, and the attacker took off running before anyone could get a good look at him. Westchester County Police are now combing through video footage hoping to identify the suspect, who vanished into the area around McLean Avenue and South Broadway.
The incident happened around 11:09 a.m. at that intersection, according to Westchester County Police Public Information Officer Kieran O'Leary, as reported by Daily Voice. Police say the passenger was riding the bus and waiting to exit when he became upset that the rear door wasn't opening fast enough.
Once he finally got off, the man allegedly didn't just walk away. Instead, he circled around to the driver's side of the bus and punched the driver in the face through an open window before running from the scene, per the same account.
Driver Declined Treatment, Couldn't Describe Attacker
The driver declined medical attention following the attack, Daily Voice's report notes, and was also unable to give investigators a description of the person who hit him. That leaves Westchester County Police leaning on surveillance footage from the area as they try to piece together who the suspect is and where he went. No arrest had been announced as of the report.
The attack echoes a separate incident this past summer in Long Island City, where a woman allegedly boarded an MTA Q103 bus and argued with the driver about service before punching him in the face multiple times with closed fists, according to QNS. In that case, the suspect also smashed the bus's rear window before fleeing through the rear door on foot, QNS reported, and EMS transported the injured driver to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital in Astoria, where he was listed in stable condition. Authorities in that case offered a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment.
A Pattern Transit Agencies Are Watching
Assaults on transit workers have drawn enough concern nationally that the Federal Transit Administration issued General Directive 24-1 in September 2024, outlining required actions agencies must take regarding assaults on transit employees, according to the Federal Transit Administration. Research into the issue has also pointed to a notable pattern specific to bus operators: one study found a similar but higher rate of assaults among bus workers compared to subway workers, which researchers suggested may stem from bus drivers' closer physical proximity to passengers, per a study published on PMC.
Separate research has tracked these incidents over time, with one analysis examining assaults per 10 million riders among combined New York City bus and subway workers from 2018 to 2023, according to a study indexed on PubMed. For now, the Yonkers case remains open, with investigators relying on video evidence rather than witness description to track down the person responsible.
