BusTalk

[ripta42]

CBS 2 report

Bus Driver Left Critical After Stabbing In B'klyn
Dec 1, 2008 1:46 pm US/Eastern

BROOKLYN (CBS) ― A bus driver is in critical condition after being stabbed while on-duty in Brooklyn, CBS 2 HD has learned.

According to police, the incident occurred shortly after 12 p.m. on Monday at Malcolm X Boulevard near Gates Avenue.

The driver of the B-46 was removed to Woodhull Hospital. It is not yet clear what caused the incident.

Police are searching for the suspect.

Please stay tuned to CBS 2 HD and WCBSTV.com for the latest on this developing story.

[ripta42]

NY1

Bus Driver Stabbed In Brooklyn
12/01/2008 02:08 PM

A bus driver was fatally stabbed by a passenger this afternoon in Bedford Stuyvesant.

Sources say a man boarding the bus got in a dispute with the driver over a transfer. The man then stabbed the bus driver before running off.

Sources at the Transport Workers Union say that the driver died from his injuries.

Police say no one else was injured.

[N4 Jamaica]

What grief.
The NY Times has this photo of two RTS. It appears he was working Run 52 on the B46.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/bus-driver-is-fatally-stabbed-in-brooklyn/?hp

[ripta42]

NY1 is reporting that police are questioning a "Person Of Interest" in the attack.

[Q65A]

Here is the story as obtained from www.mta.info:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/edwin.htm
Terrible tragedy, especially so near to Christmas; my prayers go out to Mr. Thomas' wife and kids.
I think that all DOB buses need to be fitted with the full plexiglas "drivers' cabs" that are very common on London transit buses. While making contact with the public in an open B/O compartment might be a nice thing to have in a perfect world, clearly we have some very unstable, violent individuals in society who simply cannot manage their anger in a socially acceptable fashion.
I would ask DHS and/or TSA to help with the costs of B/O cab retrofits; do we really need to wait for some psycho to commandeer an NYCT bus and ram it into a gasoline truck on a busy street, or plunge it off a bridge?
I also would hope that MTA and/or TWU 100 would help Mr. Thomas' family (i.e. perhaps scolarships for kids).
Finally, as he died in the line of duty, perhaps it would be fitting to rename FLA as the Edwin Thomas memorial Depot.
To all my B/O friends out there (and bus passeners too) please be careful out there.

[ripta42]

Suspect, 20 year old Horace Moore, is charged with second-degree murder

NY1

According to most reports, Thomas was stabbed when he refused to give Moore a transfer. According to this AP article, Thomas gave Moore the transfer but followed him off the bus to continue arguing with him.

[RailBus63]

[Hart Bus]

Could anyone make out the bus #. With my old eyes, I couldn't tell if it was 8466,9466 or 9566. The run number 052 was clear. Thanks

[RailBus63]

On BusChat, someone stated that the bus number was 9666.

[Hart Bus]

[Mr. Linsky]

What can you say? we shouldn't have to suffer the loss of a driver this way any more!

I think Q65A has the right idea concerning protection for the operator in the form of an isolation booth just as the taxis have.

I've often thought about this very scenario even when I drove back when - we did have crime albeit of much less intensity and seriousness - drivers were held up for money sometimes at knife or gun point but few were ever killed.

I have enhanced the photo from the Times below and the number on the first bus does appear to be 9666.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[Mr. Linsky]

Transit Workers Gather to Mourn Slain Driver

By Karen Zraick December 8th. New York Times

Hundreds of uniformed transit workers arrived in 25 buses — many of them decorated with black and purple bunting — to mourn one of their own on Monday at a funeral Mass for Edwin Thomas, who was killed last week by an angry passenger while driving the B46 bus route in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Among the speakers at the Mass, at Sacred Heart Church in Cambria Heights, were Elliot G. Sander, chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Howard H. Roberts Jr., president of New York City Transit, the authority’s largest unit, which runs the New York City buses and subways. Mr. Roberts was met with applause when he vowed to make work conditions safer for bus operators.

Bagpipers and drummers from the authority’s Emerald Society played taps. After the service, relatives of Mr. Thomas piled into a special B46 bus to Kings Plaza, via Utica Avenue, with a memorial to Mr. Thomas emblazoned on the side of the bus.

“In memory of Edwin Thomas, 1962-2008,” it read. “Seven years of loyal service.”

Mr. Thomas’s 18-year-old son, Jeffrey, read from the Bible at the start of the service. “I don’t remember the last time I said I love you,” the son said after he finished reading. “But I’m saying it today. I love you.”

Mr. Sander said that Mr. Thomas, who was known as Terry, had received four commendations for his patience, courtesy and professionalism since he started the job in 2001.

“He worked some of the most challenging bus routes,” Mr. Sander said. “He earned the respect of all of his colleagues.” He added, “Edwin Thomas made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.”

Mr. Sander presented a plaque to Mr. Thomas’s family that lauded the driver for dedication and courage. A replica of the plaque will be permanently erected in the Flatbush Depot, where Mr. Thomas worked out of.

Mr. Roberts said that when he started with the authority in the 1980s, driving a bus was one of the most dangerous jobs in the city. The last bus driver to be killed on the job was Harvey Shild, 28, who was slain on Oct. 10, 1981, after — like Mr. Thomas — refusing to give a passenger a transfer ticket.

Ed Watt, an official at Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents bus drivers, said it would push for legislation to make the work environment safer for bus drivers.

Another union official, Stephan Thomas, who was a friend, but no relation, of Edwin Thomas, spoke briefly, his voice cracking as tears spilled out of his eyes. “This is not supposed to happen to a bus operator,” he said before leaving the lectern. Thunderous applause followed, including much nodding.

A family friend, Turnier Esperance, said he first met Mr. Thomas in their native Haiti in 1976, when Mr. Esperance was dating Mr. Thomas’s aunt, who raised him. Mr. Esperance said Mr. Thomas often worked overtime on weekends and holidays for the sake of his children. “He sacrificed holidays, Sundays, just like you,” Mr. Esperance said, addressing the transit workers who crowded into the church. “We don’t want his death to be in vain.”

Fausto Aristy, 59, who has been driving a bus in the Bronx for 20 years, stood in the back of the church and wiped away tears. After the service, he said that many drivers wanted the M.T.A. to install protective barriers, similar to those used at subway station booths, to protect them from verbal and even physical abuse.

“We’re sitting ducks,” Mr. Aristy said, adding that he was assaulted on the job five years ago. “If they would give you some protection, that brother would be alive today.”

Louretha Carter, a union representative at the Flatbush Depot who worked with Mr. Thomas, said: “we might break down after, but we have a job to do right now– to support the family.”

Another driver who worked with Mr. Thomas, Hopeton Porter, a 17-year transit veteran, said that all drivers could relate to Mr. Thomas in his encounter with an unruly passenger. “What he did, all of us
would do, refusing him a transfer,” said Mr. Porter, who is 62. “It’s rough right now. We’re just hoping this never happens again.”

In his eulogy, the Rev. Bryan D. Patterson described Mr. Thomas as a dedicated family man.

Mr. Thomas immigrated to New York in 1981 and loved sports cars. In addition to his son, he had a 16-year-old daughter, Edley.

Mourners filled the pews and two balconies and stood at the back and sides of the aisles. As the casket was carried in, to a solemn, slow drumbeat, relatives sobbed loudly. Mr. Thomas was buried in the Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington, on Long Island.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY


Transit workers consoled each other after a funeral Mass for Edwin Thomas at the Sacred Heart Church in Cambria Heights, Queens. (Photo: Damon Winter / The New York Times

[TTCBusbabe]

So sad..read about it.. ..my condolences