Brooklyn, NY – Teen Surrenders In MTA Bus Driver Beating Caught On Video

Brooklyn, NY – Four days after asking the public for assistance in identifying a man who viciously attacked an MTA bus driver that was caught on video, the NYPD has arrested and charged an 18 year old Brooklyn man.

Thutmose Clark of Ditmas Park turned himself in at 8:16 PM Tuesday night at the 67th Precinct. As previously reported on VIN News, the attack took place on January 29th at the corner of Avenue D and Nostrand Avenue, with the entire incident captured by the bus’s video surveillance camera.

Police said that Clark, who was charged with Assault in the Second Degree, has no record of any prior arrests.

MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan told VIN News that the driver of the B8 bus, who was struck in the left eye and the right hand, said he did not sustain any serious injuries in the attack and that he continued on his route after the incident, reporting it to the MTA two days later. MTA policy prohibits identifying bus operators in incidents of this nature.

According to reports on The Daily News, Clark was accompanied by his mother, Yaasante Clark, and Reverend Dr. Kevin McCall, president of the Brooklyn East chapter of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, at the time of his surrender.

Yaasante Clark said that her son has a history of autism and was experiencing an outburst while riding the B8 bus on the night in question. Clark said that the situation escalated after she asked the driver to let them off the bus mid-route, a request that she said was denied.

She criticized the MTA for not releasing portions of the video footage that showed both her and other passengers asking the driver to stop the bus at an unscheduled stop.

Kwan noted that it was the NYPD who selected the video clip that was released to the public and that while passengers can ask for unscheduled bus stops on local routes, that service is only available from 10 PM through 5 AM.