A Los Angeles city bus driver is getting kudos from government officials for the way he calmly handled a hijacking of his bus that left one passenger dead.
No one has identified the driver publicly, but he is said to be a longtime staff member for the city’s transit department. The driver hit an alarm on September 25 after a man got on his bus at 1 a.m. with a gun and demanded that the driver keep the bus going through Los Angeles for an hour while cops were in pursuit.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said multiple citizens called 911 after the quick-thinking driver changed the text message on the bus’ front sign to read, “Emergency Call 911.” She said the bus at least had a safety barrier that kept the driver from being attacked by anyone who wanted to take control of the bus.
But hijackers have other ways of persuading captives, and this man had a gun that he was using to threaten passengers. The hijacker shot one of the passengers, who later died at the hospital. The deceased person’s identity has not been released.
The hijacker has been identified as a 51-year-old LA man named Lamont Campbell.
The LA SWAT team was deployed to try to stop the bus, which was traveling near the Skid Row region. They put out spikes on the road which succeeded in puncturing several tires on the bus. Witness Steven Johnson also praised the driver, saying he had “good composure.” Even after the bus’s tires were shredded, Johnson said, the driver was able to safely maneuver it to a stop.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said the bus driver’s actions were “nothing short of heroic.” Though there was a man with a gun pointing at him and his passengers, the driver thought to push the silent alarm which summoned law enforcement help, she said. “He was incredibly brave, driving the bus for an hour,” Hahn said.
Cops were caught in a standoff before the hijacking ended, shooting bean bags and “flash bangs” at the gunman while trying to get the driver and passengers to safety.
Gunman Lamont Campbell has been charged with murder and is being held on $2 million bail in a Los Angeles jail.
