Police from the 104th Precinct are looking for a teenager who allegedly assaulted an MTA bus driver in Glendale on Monday evening.
Police say the attack occurred on board a Q47 MTA bus at around 6:30 p.m. in front of the Shops at Atlas Park at 88-00 Cooper Ave., when the young man began to argue with the on-duty 37-year-old man who was operating the bus. The irritated teen complained that he got on the wrong bus and the verbal dispute escalated into violence when the assailant punched the driver in the face before getting off the bus, police said.
The suspect was last seen running eastbound on Cooper Avenue toward Metropolitan Avenue, according to the NYPD.
EMS responded to the scene and transported the injured driver to Long Island Jewish Forest Hills Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow called the teen attacker’s actions despicable.
“We take the safety of our employees very seriously. Employees come to work and they should be able to go home in the same condition as they came to work,” Crichlow said following an MTA board meeting. “We have cameras in every bus. We have cameras on every train, and we’re not going to stand for this. In every instance in which one of our employees are assaulted, we will pull the video, and we will provide that the the NYPD, and we will support every effort to make sure that these individuals wind up behind bars.”
The NYPD released surveillance images of the suspect on Wednesday. He has a dark complexion and is believed to be approximately 16 to 18 years of age and 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a slim build and brown eyes. He was wearing a yellow hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and light colored sneakers.
A reward of up to $3,500 is being offered for information that leads to his arrest and indictment.
Anyone with information regarding this assault investigation is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Through Nov. 16, the 104th Precinct has reported 257 felony assaults so far in 2025, 14 fewer than the 271 reported at the same point last year, a decline of 0.8%, according to the latest CompStat report. Transit crimes are also down in the precinct with 14 reported so far this year, two fewer than the 16 reported at the same point in 2024, a decrease of 12.5%, according to CompStat.
