City School Bus Driver Ambushed In West Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A group of teenagers carjack a bus and take it for a joy ride in West Baltimore. It happened along West Lexington Street Thursday afternoon.
Rick Ritter has the details on the disturbing story.
The driver of the bus says he was pulled over in a West Baltimore neighborhood when a group of teens ran onto the bus and starting assaulting him. The teens, who police say are all under the age of 16, then took off with the bus.
The victim describes to WJZ the vicious attack.
"In the face right here, with a belt, with a trashcan in my head," said Joirilus Pierre. "That's the first time that's happened to me in 40 years."
The carjacking happened just before 4 p.m. Thursday as the driver was parked along West Lexington Street. Pierre says a group of rowdy and rambunctious teens burst onto his bus.
"They opened the back door, jumped inside, throwing things at me," he said.
When Pierre threatened to call 911, he says that's when the teens started beating on him with everything they could get their hands on. Trashcans belts, even emergency equipment on the bus, striking him in the face.
"I jumped out because they were beating me so bad, you know?" said Pierre.
Police say the teens then took off with the bus, driving it around the block before putting it in park again. The owner of the bus company says they are lucky the teens didn't drive onto MLK Boulevard.
"Beyond blessed because that bus was heading into traffic," said Carol Williams, the head of Affordable Transportation.
She adds that she's disgusted by the attack.
"You cannot just live your life beating people up," she said.
Police have three teens in custody all under the age of 16. Luckily, Pierre suffered only minor injuries, but admits the car jacking could have been tragic.
"All things considered, this could have been so much worse and all for nothing," said Williams.
"They don't respect anybody. They're going to do it again if nothing happens to them," said Pierre.
Pierre says he was attacked by what he thought was four or five teens. Again police say they have three people in custody, but aren't releasing any other information at this time.
Police say no one else was on the bus at the time of the carjacking.
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