Pearl Clutching Rider Pepper Sprays Bus Driver

Attacks Driver on Bus Near Edgar Allan Poe’s Home

The NYPD is searching for this woman for allegedly pepper spraying a bus driver in the Bronx. -Photo by NYPD

By Dan Gesslein 

Bronx Voice 

May 22, 2024 

BRONX - A pearl clutching straphanger created some scares when she pepper sprayed a bus driver near horror master Edgar Allan Poe’s home, cops said.  

The NYPD released surveillance video from inside the bus where the attack occurred. The suspect is seen decked out in pearls. 

At around 4:20 pm on May 3, a 51-year-old MTA employee was driving his route for the BX28 bus. In the vicinity of Valentine Avenue and East 192 Street a rider approached the driver. The bus was across the street from Poe Park which contains the home of horror master Edgar Allan Poe. 

Cops said the woman walked up to the driver and without a word pulled out a container and pepper sprayed the driver in the face. The attacker then fled the bus. 

EMS rushed the driver to Lincoln Hospital where he was listed in stable. 

Cops said the driver suffered pain and swelling to the face. 

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. 

All calls are strictly confidential.