An MTA bus driver stabbed and beat an enraged passenger in Brooklyn on Friday after he refused to get off the bus during a stop, authorities said.
Bus driver Ian Bascombe, 58, was at the wheel of the B41 at Foster and Flatbush streets in Kensington at about 12:20 p.m. when he was driving a passenger who was a “known repeat offender” with problems. Quentin Blanch, 33, of 2005, came onto the bus and ordered him to stop. Police and sources said they took the wrong bus.
Bascom tried to keep driving until he could pull over safely, but Branch was unable to do so, officials said.
Officials say the enraged rider spat at Bascom, threatened to break his jaw, and punched him in the left eye.
Police said Bascom allegedly pulled out a “sharp object” and stabbed Branch in the head and left leg.
The two men were taken to Kings County Hospital Center for treatment and arrested, police said.
The East Flatbush branch was charged with second- and third-degree assault and harassment, authorities said.
He is known to be a “repeat traffic offender,” but information about his criminal history was not immediately available Friday, officials said.
Bascom, of Prospect Park South, was also charged with second- and third-degree assault and possession of a weapon, police and officials said.
The operator had worked for the MTA for 20 years, the agency said.
“Violence on buses puts New Yorkers at risk and is unacceptable,” Frank Anicaro, New York City Transit's senior vice president for buses, said in a statement. “Pending an internal review, this bus operator has suspended operations.”
