That’s not our headline (above), but we like it.
It was written by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, now working for the Seattle Police Department, for a press release he sent out this afternoon about the incident Tuesday at the Northgate Transit Center, 10200 First Ave N.E.
The 31-year-old suspect’s bout of bad behavior all started around 7:45 p.m. when he began harassing a woman sitting at a bus stop.
When another man at the bus stop tried to get the suspect to leave the woman alone, the suspect turned on the man and started following him through the Transit Center. The suspect then grabbed the man from behind, shoved him, and demanded money. The man then handed his wallet over to the suspect.
A second man saw the suspect robbing the first man, and stepped in to confront the suspect. The suspect then turned on the second man, punching him in the face and kicking him in the leg.
Already on quite a roll, the suspect then began harassing two other women at the transit center, offering them a graphic and unsolicited description of his genitalia.
When the women ignored the suspect, he spit on the women, prompting the King County Metro driver—who was waiting to start his next bus run at the transit center—to leap into action.
The driver tackled the suspect to the ground and held him there until police arrived.
I wish more bus drivers were like this guy & actually gave a crap about the safety of their riders! If anyone deserves a driver of the year award, it’s this guy! Having been assaulted on the bus before (and the driver was aware and did nothing), and having witnessed other incidents on the bus where the driver did nothing, this kind of thing should definitely happen more often. It’s time the criminals know that we’re not going to tolerate their behavior!
Three cheers for the bus driver, bus driver, bus driver!