NYPD: B41 bus driver stabbed passenger following dispute; both arrested
Police say the “MTA employee displayed a knife and stabbed the passenger in the head and left leg.”
Top Stories
UPDATE: Sources say charges against the MTA Bus driver who stabbed a passenger have been dropped. According to sources, it has been determined the passenger was the initial aggressor and the driver acted in self defense.
An MTA bus driver stabbed a passenger Friday afternoon following a verbal dispute aboard the B41 bus in Flatbush, police say.
According to the initial report, police responded to a call at the intersection of Forster Avenue and Flatbush Avenue around 12:19 p.m. They were told that the driver, Ian Bascombe, 58, was engaged in an argument with passenger Quentin Branch.
Police say the “MTA employee displayed a knife and stabbed the passenger in the head and left leg.”
Branch, 33, was taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County in stable condition.
Bascombe is facing multiple counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon charges. Branch is also facing assault and harassment charges.
The nature of the verbal dispute was not immediately known.
An NYC Transit official released a statement:
“Violence on buses puts New Yorkers at risk and is not acceptable. Pending internal review, this Bus Operator is being withheld from service.”
