The Brief
- Christopher Jones is charged with two counts of battery to a public transit operator and one count of battery to an elderly person following two attacks on Dec. 26.
- Jones allegedly punched and spit on one driver before boarding a second bus and striking a 62-year-old driver with a wastebasket.
- Officers apprehended Jones at Sinai Hospital. He was later identified as the assailant through bus surveillance video.
MILWAUKEE – A 38-year-old man is accused of attacking two different Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus drivers early on Friday, Dec. 26. The accused is Christopher Jones – and he faces the following criminal counts:
- Battery to public transit operator (2 counts)
- Battery to an elder person-intentionally cause bodily harm
Bus drivers attacked
What we know:
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were dispatched shortly before 5 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 26 to a call from a bus driver who was stopped near 12th and Vliet. The driver reported that a passenger “became violent with her” while she was headed east on Highland. The driver “said that the passenger exchanged words with her and then suddenly began punching her,” the complaint says. The court filing goes on to say the passenger pulled off one of the bus driver’s shoes and “threw it at her, took off his own shoe and threw that at her, and spit in her face.” The man then retrieved his shoe and exited the bus.
That same morning, officers responded to a 911 call from a different bus driver stopped near 12th and Vliet. The 62-year-old driver said she let a passenger on near 12th and State and he “began behaving as if intoxicated and eventually the passenger reached over her partition and swing at her. He then picked up a small waste basket and struck at her with it multiple times,” the complaint says. The man then left the bus.…