Early in the afternoon on December 13, a man was riding on an MTA bus in Queens, when he approached the driver and said he realized he was on the wrong bus. He made a request to be dropped off at a spot on the side of the road, but it was not a marked bus stop. It was reported that the driver was trying to find a safe place to allow the man to deboard, but the 33-year-old rider was allegedly unsatisfied and threatened to physically harm him. The passenger then reportedly struck the driver in the face and started spitting on him.
When the 58-year-old bus driver got up to confront him, the man allegedly punched him multiple times. The operator had a sharp object believed to be a knife, and he reportedly stabbed the passenger in his head and his leg.