Good Samaritans stop violent assault on VTA bus driver

MORGAN HILL, Calif. (KGO) -- Good Samaritans were quick to intervene when they saw a chaotic scene on a Bay Area bus. It happened at Monterey and West Second Streets in Morgan Hill when a passenger attacked the bus driver.

The bus came to a halt at an intersection and, as he was trained to do, the bus driver tried to calmly get the man off the bus after he made several threats, but the threats kept on coming. That's when the restaurant workers across the street stopped into help.

A video taken by a passenger stuck in traffic shows the chaotic scene as a fight ensues on a crowded bus.

Good Samaritan Art Nazzal told ABC7 News, "I looked over and seen this guy pretty much on top of bus driver yelling, 'Stop the bus or I'm going to stab you, I'll kill you.'"

Nazzal, owner of Mr. Falafel, and his two employees were prepping food as usual when they rushed over to help.

"It was great team work," Nazzal said.

Nazzal said the erratic passenger threatened the bus driver with a pen and then threw a windshield wiper at his head for trying to intervene.

Nazzal, who lost his right leg years ago in a motorcycle accident, didn't think twice about his safety. He said, "If somebody was ready to get assaulted, I'm not going to just stand there."

William Lowrance said he knew he had do act fast when he saw the man grab a metal pipe that's normally used to break the bus window in case of an emergency. He knew that bar would seriously hurt someone so he came up from behind and pushed the man off the bus.

Luckily, no one was hurt on the commute home on bus No. 68 traveling from San Jose to Gilroy late Thursday afternoon.

"It's commendable they showed concern and were trying to be helpful," VTA Director of Communications Bernice Alaniz said.

Morgan Hill police arrested the man who was threatening the bus driver and he is now undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.