New York City bus driver stabbed to death in Brooklyn

[CPBO]

I am so sorry for the family and the Bus Operator.....driving in the Bronx I deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis......I do hope this guy is caught....but no matter what happens to him....we cannot bring back the Bus Operator!! It is a sad day for me and my fellow Bus Operators.....we lost one of our own. R.I.P. Edwin Thomas, A Farther or Two, A brother!!

 

 

 

I am reading they have a suspect in custody.....

[FamousNYLover]

That is very sad.

I still remember another stabbing incident longtime ago.

Which bus depot B46 coming from?

I want to type letter to express my feeling.

[Princelex]

That is just disgusting and heartbreaking. I pray for the bus driver's family and I pray that they find the bastard who did this and give him the maximum they can give him for murder and whatever else they can charge him with. All for $2. Terrible.

[Princelex]

I havent read every response to the story but I wanted to add that along with adding videocameras on every bus, there needs to be cops, uniformed and plain clothes, on the buses regularly. They need to be by as many stops as possible and everything else. I also feel that bus drivers should be trained how to use a gun and be legally allowed to protect themselves from harm. While this doesn't happen on a regular basis, these buses go through some extremely rough neighborhoods and these bus drivers need to be able to go through their routes with peace of mind. If having a gun is the way to do it then I'm all for it. If they make it a standard priority to have cops ride the bus regularly, then that's even better. This incident must never happen again. A bus driver's family shouldn't have to lose their father/husband/brother/son to a**holes like the one who committed that horrible murder yesterday.

[Pablo M 201]

The MTA has posted a memorial for Edwin Thomas.

 

Here is the link:

http://www.mta.info/nyct/edwin.htm

[Forest Glen]

It was about a month ago, IIRC, when a turnstile hopper shot a cop.

 

That was a different issue. In this case he was an illegal immigrant trying to elude cops.

[Canarsie143]

This is a damn shame. This happened not too far away from me, which is scarier but, this was a driver that let the guy on regardless of him not having enough for a fare. Then he has the audacity to go kill the driver because the driver wouldn't give him a transfer?

 

The audacity of him. I hope they lock his broke ass up and throw away the f**kin key.

 

I apologize for my language but, this sorta thing pisses me off.

[Locomotion69]

That is very sad.

I still remember another stabbing incident longtime ago.

Which bus depot B46 coming from?

I want to type letter to express my feeling.

 

I think the B46 belongs to the Grand Avenue Depot,not sure though,can't find the Bus roster threads,it used to be a sticky. What is the latest on the suspect they picked up for questioning earlier today? Came from a tip,this guy was a passenger on the bus. Was supposed to be in a lineup.....

 

Anyway whatever sentence he gets isn't eneough. The criminal justice system is a bleeping joke. I believe in an eye for an eye. As soon as that subhuman gets off the bus from Rikers after he is released at Queens Plaza bash him in the head with a baseball bat. They will get a letter in the mail to be informed of his release. You know he will be let out of jail eventually.

 

By the way the last bus driver killed was also in Brooklyn,back in 1981,yeah you guessed it over a transfer as well. Where is DOB2RTO?

[jacsnyy]

The B46 is out of Flatbush.

 

I am so disgusted by this, and the B46 is usually pretty crowded and the people on the bus should have done more. This is $2! I feel like there was a somber mood with most of the Flatbush drivers I saw today. This can not happen again. Even the nastiest bus drivers are serving the city and the communities, and need some more protection. I can't believe this.

[mac5689]

I hope the family of the murdered bus driver gets compensated by the MTA. This lowlife will get caught,plenty of witnesses,he can run but he can't hide.They will put up a reward for the killer I hope....

 

you do know that Eye Witnesses aren't that reliable right. you can have 100 people see a crime but 100 different ways of how it was committed.

 

what it comes down to is what the evidence says, and if there isn't a lot of that then the person can run and can hide.

 

last i heard was that they had a person of interest, what happen with that guy, does anyone know?

[via White Plains Road]

I think the B46 belongs to the Grand Avenue Depot,not sure though,can't find the Bus roster threads,it used to be a sticky. What is the latest on the suspect they picked up for questioning earlier today? Came from a tip,this guy was a passenger on the bus. Was supposed to be in a lineup.....

 

Anyway whatever sentence he gets isn't eneough. The criminal justice system is a bleeping joke. I believe in an eye for an eye. As soon as that subhuman gets off the bus from Rikers after he is released at Queens Plaza bash him in the head with a baseball bat. They will get a letter in the mail to be informed of his release. You know he will be let out of jail eventually.

 

By the way the last bus driver killed was also in Brooklyn,back in 1981,yeah you guessed it over a transfer as well. Where is DOB2RTO?

 

B46 is part of Flatbush Depot

[BklynBusMan08]

Here is an article from the NY Times, from October 1981, when the last bus driver in NYC was killed. Ironically, that driver was also from the Flatbush Depot.

 

---

 

BUS DRIVER IN BROOKLYN KILLED BY A RIDER REFUSED A TRANSFER

The New York Times October 11, 1981, Sunday, Late City Final Edition

 

BODY:

A New York City bus dr iver was shot and fatally wounded aboard his bus in Broo klyn yesterday afternoon by an angry passenger in a dispute over free transfers, the transit police said. The gunman, accompanied by a woman, escaped after the slaying.

 

Transit officials said the victim was the first city bus driver killed in the line of duty in many years, perhaps as long as a decade. They said the argument that preceded the shooting had apparently begun over a trivial matter.

 

The 28-year-old driver, Harvey Shild, an unmarried Queens resident who had been a transit employee for several years, was shot at 1:45 P.M. at Nostrand Avenue and Avenue Z in the Sheepshead Bay section, where he had stopped his northbound B-44 bus to let off and take on passengers.

 

Four hours after the shooting, Mr. Shild died at Coney Island Hospital. He had received a massive head wound and, having suffered brain death earlier, had been kept alive through the afternoon on a respirator, hospital officials said.

 

Dozen Passengers on Bus

 

There were about a dozen passengers on board Mr. Shild's blue and silver bus, No. 7534, and it was making the third stop on its run up Nostrand Avenue, bound from Sheepshead Bay to downtown Brooklyn, when the dispute that led to the shooting developed, the police said.

 

Witnesses said that a man and a woman who had boarded the bus and paid their fares at the start of the line at Emmons Avenue and Coyle Street got up from their seats, walked up to the driver and requested transfers to which they were technically not entitled.

 

Transfers are free on city buses, but the driver refused to give them to the couple, saying that Transit Authority rules required that passengers obtain transfers only upon boarding a bus.

 

In the ensuing argument, the assailant drew what appeared to be a large-caliber automatic pistol. Then, witnesses said, he fired three shots, none of which struck the driver. One crashed through the ceiling, another through the bus's side and the third through a window just behind the driver's head.

Gunman Stands Over Driver

 

The gunman was standing directly over the seated driver at this point, and Capt. Arthur V. Deutcsh , who was in charge of the police investigation, said it was unclear whether the gunman had been trying to shoot the driver or was merely firing to intimidate him.

 

In any event, Captain Deutcsh said, the driver leaped from his seat and ran back along the aisle through the bus, trying to escape out the back door. The assailant pursued him.

 

Mr. Shild was nearing the rear door, witnesses told the police, when the gunman fired again. The single shot struck the victim in the back of the head from a range of five to six feet, and he fell to the floor as terrified passengers screamed, hunched down in their seats or scrambled for the doorways.

 

The assailant and his companion fled. There were conflicting reports on how the couple escaped. Some witnesses said they ran away together; others said they split up and walked away at a brisk pace; still others said they escaped in a stolen red car.

 

Police Question Witnesses

 

Ten witnesses - five bus passengers and five people from the street - were taken to the 61st Precinct police station at 2575 Coney Island Avenue for questioning as an ambulance rushed the fatally wounded driver to Coney Island Hospital, one mile west of the scene.

 

The victim was given extensive blood transfusions during emergency treatment, and a respirator was used to keep him breathing, a hospital spokesman said. Mr. Shild, who lived at 46-21 Brookville Boulevard in Rosedale, was said to have suffered brain death shortly after being shot.

 

The gunman was described as a heavyset Hispanic male, 25 to 32 years old, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 220 pounds. He was said to be wearing a white tweed cap and a white trenchcoat, and his two front teeth were missing. No description of his woman companion was immediately available.

 

Crime an Unusual One

 

Transit records were not available over the weekend, but transit police officials said they could not recall a city bus driver's being fatally wounded on duty in the last decade.

 

Crime on city buses has dropped sharply since the installation of exact-change fare boxes in 1969 took all money out of the hands of drivers.

[MTARegional Bus]

update

 

The killer has been capture

 

http://www.wpix.com/landing/?NYPD-Man-Confesses-in-Bus-Driver-Slaying=1&blockID=150738&feedID=1404

[DOB2RTO]

It seems some forgot some things I had posted when I first came on this board. As a former bus operator, I will let you all in on a little secret. This should have never happened, cause this happened before, and the driver who it happened to, name is on a wall in a Brooklyn depot. During training, and when hired both the MTA and TWU Local 100 tells all drivers the same thing. We are all told about the story of a deceased B/O who let a guy on his bus in Brooklyn. The guy did not pay, came up and ask the driver for a transfer, the driver said no, the guy went out the back door, came to the front door, pulled out a gun, and while the driver was on his knees begging for his like, the guy shot him dead anyways. I have told this before, causes I have told many on here, a NYCTA B/Os job in to get all on the bus from point a to point b safely. It is not to dispute fares, or transfers. We were told in training, if someone gets on who doesn't pay, and they come back and ask for a transfer, you are to give it to them, without dispute. You do not know what these people have, their mental state, or who they are. It is not your bus, and you must do everything in your power to get home at night. I don't know this driver, but I have worked with many, who have an attitude like they own that bus. They tell stories of how they deny rides, or tell those who they give a ride to, that they ain't getting a transfer, etc...... One driver from KB had stories of this, until he got assaulted. Another driver said, "it was a long time coming". Why? Cause the one who got assaulted put himself in harms way by doing what we should not be doing. Some clap and say, well I agree with these drivers who do this, but who gets assaulted, and/or dies, cause of one word. No!........ That driver, and not a single passenger lifts a hand to help, but would rather scatter off or to the end of the bus, and then say, "he/she should of let them on, or gave the transfer".

 

Bus operators are the main ones in the public eye, and have no protection form the public. I have had let a hell of alot of people on my bus, and they came up and asked for a transfer. I wouldn't even attempt to say no, or start some argument with them over it. We shouldn't even be talking about this, due to the fact it was over the driver saying no, to giving a transfer, to someone he gave a free ride to. Yes, you don't want to be played a fool everyday, you get tired of giving free rides, and then the person wants more, etc..... Most assaults are over this (denying rides and transfers). Why do drivers keep doing this (saying No!), is beside me. I was never out to make enemies or get into fights with the public over something that ain't mine, and over something I would never get in trouble over, cause the union would rip management a new a$$hole, if a driver was ever written up for giving a free ride, and a transfer if the person asked for one. Why? Cause of driver assaults and a death in the past over exactly this. To all drivers on this board and who may be reading this, as long as you work for MTA, do not ever again deny a passenger a ride, or a transfer if they do not have the fare or full fare. If you get caught doing this, and it is confirmed, not only should TA start a process of termination, but TWU Local 100 should recommend it also. I say this, cause some are just very hard headed, and might end up a statistic also. They forgot what they were told in training, and for old timers, they know of the first Brooklyn incident. I don't want to hear of another B/O death over a fare or transfer. It's to damn sad, and so damn preventable. That bus and farebox is owned by MTA, not pass number 123456789..............

[Articulated450]

that makes me so made to kill a bus driver over a stupid two dollars come on they anit asking for much

[FatBoy1169]

this is a big part of why fare is going up to many people who do not want to pay the fare and blame us B/O that we make to much just sit on the bus and look at how many people who want a free ride or do not have all the fare. This is why we are one brother aka B/O short today rest in peace my brother

[BMT B1 Division]

My thoughs and prayers go out to ALL the professional drivers that have to contend directly with the public and especially to the grieving family victimized.