LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Transit bus drivers tell 8newsnow.com that they are fearful whenever they get behind the wheel after several recent violent incidents aboard buses across the Las Vegas valley.
They are not scared of road accidents but of the danger, they deal with inside the bus.
Leo Henderson has been a bus driver with RTC for four years, he is scared he will be the next target of a violent crime.
“All we want is for our drivers to be treated with dignity,” Henderson said.
As a bus driver, he said he has witnessed a lot.
“We get spit on, we get thrown urine,” he said.
Last week a bus supervisor was stabbed at Bonneville Transit Center.
In February, a man died after being stabbed multiple times on a bus as a surveillance camera captured it all.
“What is that camera going to do, just catch a picture,” Henderson said.
On Wednesday, a shooting occurred on a bus.
Henderson wants more safety measures on buses, so much so that he is running for state senate.
“My constituents don’t want to ride the bus, my drivers don’t want to ride the bus,” he said. “If pilots have Marshalls and they have TSA we should have the same protection.”
He said the bus drivers deal with all kinds of passengers, including those who refuse to pay. But out of fear of being hurt, he said he can’t do that.
“Most of the drivers are just letting them go through and say hey I just want to get home safe,” Henderson said.
He said there are armed security guards on some buses but they cannot intervene when there is an incident, he claimed they can only report on it.
8 News Now has reached out to RTC to see how many armed guards there are for the buses, we are still waiting to hear back.
As for Wednesday’s shooting, Metro Police say they are still looking for the person involved in the shooting.
8 News Now learned there was a stabbing incident around the same time on another bus, but that came from a source within the union.
