Police: Man Punches Long Island Bus Driver In Face
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are looking for a man who they said assaulted a Long Island bus driver over the weekend.
The incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. Sunday on a Nassau County Inter-Express Bus on the N6 line headed east on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square.
The suspect became upset and started a disturbance because the bus missed his stop and then punched the 50-year-old driver in the face, cutting his lip, police said.
The suspect exited the bus and fled on foot heading west on Hempstead Turnpike, police said.
The suspect is described as a black male, about 35 to 40 years old, approximately 6-foot-3, 250 pounds, wearing a grey jacket and blue pants, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1800-244-TIPS.
This is the second assault on a NICE bus driver in the last month.
"This is turning into an epidemic," Juanita Samuels, TWU Local 252 Vice President, told 1010 WINS. "People are frustrated and we understand that, but then they have to understand that our drivers just want to do their job. They just want to go to work and come back home to their families."
On Feb. 24, a 27-year-old Hempstead woman allegedly assaulted a driver on the same route.
Police said Ivey Dixon became upset when the bus did not make an unscheduled stop and hit 38-year-old driver Keisha McGregor repeatedly in the head.
Police said when the bus stopped, Dixon, who had one of her three children with her at the time, took off. She was later arrested following an anonymous tip.
Dixon pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and is due back in court on Tuesday.
"This is very scary...I'm scared to come back now," McGregor told 1010 WINS after hearing about the latest incident. "The next time it's not going to be somebody who's going to just beat us up, the next time somebody is going to have a gun and shoot us."
Samuels wants harsher penalties for people who attack bus drivers.
"I think they should be arrested and they should be put in jail. It should be the same punishment as if you were to assault a police officer. They are civil employees and all they want to do is go to work," Samuels said.
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