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Alleged attacker Stabbing of Brooklyn MTA bus driver Last month, he was charged with attempted murder for his broad-daylight rage — but was acquitted because a grand jury failed to indict him in time, according to police and prosecutors.
Malachi Houston, 27, was arrested July 8 and charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a 60-year-old driver in the neck a month ago on a B99 bus at Pitkin Boulevard and Alabama Avenue in East New York, authorities said Monday.
But Houston was ultimately released because a Brooklyn grand jury did not indict him within the required six-day deadline, the district attorney’s office said.
“Prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury, but the grand jury took no action,” a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “The investigation is ongoing and additional evidence may be presented to the grand jury.”
Police said that at 11:30 a.m. on June 8, Houston became angry over the “direction of the bus,” which led to a heated argument and then violence.
Witnesses said Houston and the driver got into a struggle, which ended with the suspect stabbing the driver, according to police and law enforcement sources.
The attacker got out of the car and ran away, and the bleeding victim was rushed to Brookdale University and Medical Center in stable condition, police said.
An unnamed witness told The Washington Post at the time: “There was a fight between the bus driver and the passengers. They were fighting with fists. After the fight, (the suspect) opened the back door and started running away.”
The floor near the door was covered in blood, and the glass partition around the driver’s seat was also stained with blood.
Police said Houston, who lives nearby, had been arrested three times, once in May for unlawful possession of a controlled substance and again in March for possession of a forged instrument.
He was also arrested in 2017 for grand larceny, according to police.
A bus driver who identified himself as D. McClain called on the city to provide “more protection” for drivers.
“A person comes to work to do his job, but the public sometimes gets out of control,” McClain said shortly after the attack. “You see people who are out of control riding on a bus, and you can’t be sure how they’re going to react.
Police sources said two more bus drivers were attacked the day before in unrelated incidents.
Around 11:30 a.m. on June 7, a female bus driver in East New York was hit by a passenger on a B6 bus who said she had missed her stop.
Shortly afterwards, around noon, the driver of a B44 bus at the intersection of New York Avenue and Foster Avenue was attacked with a liquid by a passenger after he asked her to roll up her stroller before boarding, sources said.
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