Surveillance footage from Saturday caught the moment an EMBARK bus driver in Oklahoma City (OKC) appeared to be attacked by a passenger while he was still driving.
The video appears to show a man repeatedly punching the bus driver before ultimately appearing to pull him out of the driver’s seat while the bus continued to move. The suspect was later identified as Tihron Harrison, according to K For News.
Harrison appears to be yelling in the video, then appears to reach around the plexiglass and punch the driver in the face. The driver can be seen trying to fight off the suspect before he was then apparently pulled to the ground.
The bus continues to move as the two appear to struggle. Another man can be seen trying to break up the apparent fight seconds before the bus appears to drive up onto the sidewalk and crash into a building. (RELATED: Man Allegedly Hijacks Metro Bus With BB Gun, Crashes Into Luxury Hotel).
Oklahoma City Police arrested an Embark passenger for attacking a bus driver while he was driving this past weekend, which sent the bus directly into the side of a building. The passenger was trying to get the bus to stop at a railroad track. pic.twitter.com/X9oxY61II4
— Catch Up (@CatchUpFeed) April 25, 2024
“The suspect asked to be let off at the intersection of Britton and Western. The bus driver told him he couldn’t do that,” Lt. Jeff Cooper of the Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) told the outlet.
The driver reportedly told Harrison he could get off at the next designated stop, as the city’s policy stipulated.
Harrison allegedly fled the scene but was later caught by police, the outlet reported. He was reportedly transported to the hospital for evaluation and was later arrested.
“Obviously (the driver) had some bumps and bruises. We got him to medical facilities right after and he’s off work now but doing well,” OKC’s Public Transportation and Parking Department Director, Jason Ferbrache, told K For News.
“When you run into a situation like that, no matter how much training you have, it’s very difficult to prepare for somebody really assaulting you while you’re operating a vehicle in motion,” Ferbrache told the outlet.
He said to K For News that the driver did his utmost to keep the people on the bus safe while following the city’s policies.