LOS ANGELES—Police on July 9 are searching for a woman who allegedly assaulted and then spit upon a Metro bus driver in South Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers responded at 10 p.m. July 8 to Martin Luther King Jr. and Avalon boulevards where they learned the woman, who NBC 4 reported was a passenger on the bus and was homeless, attacked the driver after she was told to get off the bus.
The woman then allegedly struck and spit on the driver. The woman then left the scene and is on the loose.
“Bus operators are critical frontline employees, whose primary responsibility is getting nearly a million passengers to their destinations safely each day. Passenger behavior that results in assault or impedes the safety of the operator is unacceptable,” Metro spokesman Jose Uvaldo said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Fire Department treated and released the operator who sustained non-life-threating injuries.
Authorities said the LAPD is conducting the investigation. Anyone with information about this crime was asked to call the Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.