A Metrobus passenger is accused of stabbing a driver in Wheaton after the bus driver told him to stop masturbating.
The stabbing happened during an altercation at the Wheaton Metro station at about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday, according to Montgomery County police. Police said the 28-year-old driver was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening and the passenger, 52-year-old Victor McEachin, was apprehended nearby.
Police said the incident began when the driver was operating his bus near the Silver Spring station and another passenger told him that a man in the back of the bus was masturbating.
The driver then asked a female acquaintance who got on the bus to check on the man, and the woman saw the man adjusting his clothing, police said. The man “pulled his clothes as if attempting to cover himself,” said Montgomery County Officer Janelle Smith, adding that she didn’t know whether he had been exposing himself to other passengers.
Police said the bus driver asked McEachin to respect other riders and behave appropriately.
The driver drove to Wheaton as part of the normal Y7 route; shortly before he arrived at the station, McEachin approached him and began to talk loudly.
At the station, the pair and other passengers got off the bus. Police said the driver and McEachin got into a physical altercation, and the driver was stabbed.
McEachin fled, but officers responding to the incident caught him near University Boulevard West and Amherst Avenue, less than a half-mile from the station, which is located at 11171 Georgia Ave. He had a knife and marijuana with him, police said.
Smith said McEachin suffered minor injuries in the fight.
He is charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and possession of marijuana.
No attorney was listed for him in court records.
Tuesday wasn’t McEachin’s first run-in with the law for a lewd incident. Montgomery County court records show that he was charged with indecent exposure and public urination in October 2007, and pleaded guilty to the public urination charge that December.
But Metro police rarely deal with lewd acts, the transit system says. A Metro spokesman said only about eight to 10 such incidents a year are reported to transit police.
Examiner Staff Writer Kytja Weir contributed to this report.
