Man arrested in stabbing of D.C. Circulator bus driver

A D.C. Circulator bus. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

A D.C. man accused of stabbing a D.C. Circulator driver on Tuesday night has been arrested, D.C. police said.

Anthony Lighty, 56, of no fixed address was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. A police report said Lighty had a verbal altercation with the driver after the driver declined to stop the bus, and he later stabbed the driver in the back of the head with a box cutter.

The man opened the door and fled near the unit block of Massachusetts Avenue NW, police said. He was arrested shortly after the incident.

The attack was one of several in recent years that have brought attention to a rising challenge for transit drivers, who transport thousands of passengers a day in the Washington region.

The driver was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery, a union leader said Wednesday. He remained in the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, said Sesil Rubain, the trustee for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1764. The driver has been with D.C. Circulator for five years, Rubain said.

The bus on the Georgetown-Union Station route was carrying about 25 passengers at the time of the stabbing, Rubain said. He said that in between stops, the suspect asked the driver to stop, but the driver said he had to wait until the next stop.

In recent years, drivers have been spat on, slapped and stabbed, and at least one driver was Tasered, according to reports. Generally, many of the cases stem from disputes over fare payment.