Metro Transit Police looking for woman who threw hot soup at a bus driver

Metro Transit Police are trying to identify a woman who allegedly threw hot soup on a bus operator Sunday, sending him to the hospital.

The incident occurred aboard the 96 bus in the area of Union Station about 6:50 a.m. Sunday, Transit Police said. Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says tensions began to escalate when a woman boarding at Benning Road Metro station refused to pay her fare.

“F— you, I’m not paying anything,” she said, and stepped on board the bus.

She told the operator she would spit on him upon leaving, Stessel said, and the operator “did not further challenge” her.

Twenty minutes later as she exited the bus at Union Station, the woman threw hot soup on the operator, Stessel said. Then she fled on Massachusetts Avenue NE.

Metro says the bus operator was treated and released from the hospital.

Transit Police are looking for a person of interest in the incident, which was classified as an aggravated assault. The agency circulated a photograph of a woman in thick outerwear, donning what appeared to be a scarf over her head.

SEEKING TO ID: Person of Interest, agg assault of bus operator, 96 rte i/a/o Union Sta, Sun Nov 13. Call 301-955-5000 or text MyMTPD #wmata pic.twitter.com/3JIBpHEwW0

— Metro Transit Police (@MetroTransitPD) November 14, 2016

Anyone with information is asked to text MyMTPD or call 301-955-5000.

The suspect threw hot soup on the bus operator sending him to the hospital. Please call transit police if you can ID. #wmata https://t.co/KBDXsK0R4Q

— Metro (@wmata) November 14, 2016