A Metrobus passenger has been convicted of stabbing a bus driver who told him to stop masturbating.
A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury late Tuesday convicted 52-year-old Victor McEachin of attempted second-degree murder for stabbing the driver after an altercation near the Wheaton Metro station in October.
McEachin was also convicted of assault charges for attacking a female friend of the bus driver and could face up to 40 years in prison for the crimes, Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Seth Zucker said Wednesday.
Police said the incident began when the 28-year-old driver was operating his bus near the Silver Spring station shortly after midnight on Oct. 11 and another passenger told him that a man in the back of the bus — later identified as McEachin — was masturbating.
The driver asked a female acquaintance to check on passenger; the driver then asked McEachin to respect other passengers and behave appropriately.
The driver then drove to the Wheaton station as part of his normal Y7 route. There, other passengers got off the bus and McEachin and the driver got into an altercation, according to the police. The driver was stabbed in the stomach. McEachin also fought with the driver’s friend when she tried to intervene.
McEachin fled but was apprehended less than a half-mile away.
