buses

The Herald reports on the girl charged with partially blinding a man on a 28 bus by throwing bleach in his face during a robbery.

A Roxbury 15-year-old was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bail today at her first court appearance on charges she threw bleach in a man's face during a robbery on a 28 bus last week, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Lai Lawnnie Douglas, 22, had her bail set at $20,000, the DA's office says

The DA's office provided this account of the attack:

Will also try even harder to eliminate the herding instinct among buses on 15 lines that carry about 40% of bus riders, the T reports.

Douglas, per Transit Police.

Updated, 6:35 p.m.

Transit Police report they have arrested Lai Lawnnie Douglas, 22, on charges she took part in a robbery/bleach attack on a 28 bus on Sunday. Her arrest warrant charges her with unarmed robbery, mayhem and indecent assault and battery.

A juvenile, not identified because of her age, is also charged and has been picked up, police say. Police say they know who the third suspect is and are looking for her.

Innocent, etc.

Sought.

Transit Police report they are looking for a woman packing bleach and two accomplices for an attack on a 28 bus early Sunday.

According to police, a man sitting on the bus in Grove Hall resisted getting robbed by the three women, around 2 a.m.:

A substance believed to be bleach, was doused in the victim's face during the assault and subsequent robbery. The victim was assisted by others in flushing his eyes after the assault.

When found, the women will face charges of unarmed robbery, mayhem and assault and battery. If they look familiar, contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or via an anonymous text tip to 873873.

MBTA bus drivers have also been attacked with cups of urine, WBUR reports.

WBZ reports Lucky Star, which provides bus service between South Station and New York's Chinatown, shut down Wednesday night after some bad inspections.

A Marblehead man admitted today he head butted an MBTA bus driver at Wonderland last July, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

John Kerivan, 48, headed into court asking for a suspended sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to assault and battery on a public employee. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Ozbolt, who headed up the prosecution, asked for 18 months. Chelsea District Court Judge Benjamin Barnes headed off further discussion and gave him three months in jail.

According to the DA's office, Kerivan boarded a T bus at Wonderland station around 10 p.m. on July 23 - and promptly began screaming at the driver:

When the bus driver tried to calm him, the evidence would have shown, Kerivan head-butted him, knocking the driver off balance and disorienting him.

MBTA Transit Police found Kerivan in the station a short time later and took him into custody. The driver was released from duty for the day and received treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital.

This guy tells WBZ he was only expressing his displeasure at the way the driver was driving.

Transit Police report arresting a Saugus man after he started choking a bus driver for no good reason they could tell and another passenger had to pull him off.

Police say Franco Contino rode a 426 bus from Haymarket in Boston to Saugus without incident last Wednesday afternoon.

But when the bus stopped on Lincoln Avenue to let passengers off, Contino erupted in fury and began cursing out the driver, Transit Police say:

The T this week launches a PSA campaign aimed at getting bus riders to leave bus drivers alone. You wouldn't think people would need to be reminded that spitting at drivers is not OK, but recent evidence suggests there are quite a few people out there who think nothing of punching drivers, spitting at them and trying to pull drivers off buses for beatings.

In addition to the bus ads, loudspeakers across the T system will be carrying a message from Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan:

Assaulting an MBTA employee is against the law. Think twice before putting your hands on T staff. We will find you, arrest you and prosecute you.

The T adds it is seeking legislation to increase the penalties for people found guilty of attacking T employees.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports residents who want to see the Casey Overpass replaced with another overpass instead of surface roads are considering suing to stop the work:

"No one prefers to go that route if there's a reasonable solution,” he told the Gazette this week. "But all our arrows are in our quiver."

At particular issue: The proposed new location of the exit from the Forest Hills busway near Asticou Road.

Transit Police report arresting a Wakefield man on charges he repeatedly punched an MBTA bus driver in the face this morning at Oak Grove after the driver wouldn't let him board because his CharlieCard didn't have enough funds.

Police say the driver, 58, was letting passengers board his Route 131 bus at Oak Grove around 6:50 a.m. when Ryan O'Donnell, 19, stepped into the bus:

O'Donnell tapped his Charlie Card on the fare box which indicated insufficient funds to cover the fare. The bus operator explained this to O'Donnell who became belligerent and demanded to ride for free. The bus operator refused and after withstanding O'Donnell's verbal tirade requested he exit the bus. As O'Donnell was exiting the bus he turned and spat at the bus operator. Subsequent to that a struggle ensued where the victim/T employee was struck with a closed fist multiple times in the face causing injury and severe bleeding from his nose.

O'Donnell is now scheduled for arraignment in Malden District Court on a charge of assault and battery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

Drivers this morning were not prepared for yesterday's shutdown of the overpass on the Cambridge side of the BU Bridge - although they'll now have six months to get used to it.

Kathy reports traffic was tied up in knots on the Boston side. Nikki reports from on board a bus:

Driver of the CT2 is freaking out screaming obscenities at other drivers in this INSANE traffic by BU bridge.

Yesterday afternoon at Dudley station, WCVB reports.

Dennis Murphy was driving his Route 110 bus down Elm Street around 6 a.m. yesterday when he noticed a building on fire.

According to Sean Mills, his supervisor at the Charlestown bus yard:

He immediately called dispatch and secured the bus. He then went over to the house on fire and rang all the doorbells to wake everyone inside up. These people did not know the house was on fire. His actions may have saved their lives.

Mills adds he gave Murphy a commendation, but that Murphy declined to have a picture taken of him accepting it "because he says this is stuff we should just do naturally."

Keith Richard snapped this photo of the bus he'd been on and a taxi in Kendall Square around 5:45 p.m.:

This cab just pulled in front of the CT2 I was riding at Kendall. Bus braked, we all went flying.

Alex Wheeler, also on the bus, reported no injuries, but, naturally, rush-hour traffic quickly backed up as a result.

Transit Police report arresting a Dorchester teen on charges of assault and battery on a public employee and interfering with public transportation because of an incident this afternoon on a 19 bus on Geneva Avenue.

According to police, the driver pulled into a stop outside 51 Geneva Ave. around 1 p.m.

KiDante Roberts, 18, grew agitated when the rear door wouldn't open, police say:

A 15-year-old charged with participating in last weekend's attack on a Route 16 bus driver had bail set today at $1,000, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

The DA's office reports Dorchester District Court Magistrate Michelle Bulger set several other conditions on the Hyde Park girl, not named because of her age: She has to wear a GPS device, follow a 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew and "obey any rules set by her mother."

Transit Police have posted surveillance video showing an irate woman spitting at a bus driver after being ordered off a bus at Ashmont for not paying her fare last Saturday. Police say she was accompanied by two small children - one of whom you can see in her arms as she launches her saliva salvo.

Transit Police report arresting a 15-year-old female from Hyde Park today for the Route 16 attack - no name because of her age. "Transit Police detectives continue to work toward identifying more suspects," a spokesman says, adding she is not the same person who threw her pass at the driver just as 15 to 20 teens were gathering for the attack.

Transit Police report this woman is wanted for spitting at a T bus driver who dared ask her to pay her fare at Ashmont station.

Police say she landed a loogie right on the driver's face as she left the bus around 3:20 p.m. on Saturday.

If you know her, you can contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or by texting 873873.

The Herald reports that the first person arrested for the MBTA bus-driver beating was turned in by somebody who overheard him talking about the attack - and that among the evidence against him is a tweet the next night about how his hands hurt.

WBZ reports on the attack early Saturday on a Route 16 bus at Columbia Road and Geneva Avenue. Transit Police report:

The bus operator informed officers after he came to a stop to drop off and pick up a passenger he was unable to continue due to several teen aged males standing in front of his bus preventing him from pulling out. Suddenly and without provocation the suspects set upon the operator punching him in the head, neck and facial area. At one point during the assault they attempted to pull the operator through the window. The suspects fled the area in various directions. The operator suffered multiple abrasions about his face.

Courtney Jackson.Updated Friday morning.

A man shot in the stomach around 9:50 p.m. at the Dudley MBTA station was pronounced dead not long after at Boston Medical Center. WBZ reports the man was shot in the station, then stumbled onto a crowded 28 bus.

Friends are identifying him as Will Jack, also known as Courtney Jackson.

Brian Cooper, 25, and Jamel Bannister, 22, are scheduled for arraignment today in Roxbury District Court on murder and firearms charges, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Both were nabbed not long after the shooting by Boston Police officers working a detail nearby. Transit Police say the shooting was not random - the pair targeted Jackson.