#Tampa bus driver stabbed to death drivers#

Costa says the ATU is also urging transit agencies to look at a type of bus developed by Mercedes-Benz in Europe, which has a safety shield that goes up and down with the push of a button. John Costa says they're not satisfied with progress so far toward installing safety shields.

#Tampa bus driver stabbed to death drivers#

They quote him as saying 'I'm going to prison for 15 years.'Īfter the second stabbing of a bus driver this year, the head of the union representing transit drivers in (Tampa) Hillsborough County wants to speed up the arrival of safety barriers. In the melee, police say, Ambrose cut his own leg. Ambrose lunged at Phelps, then fled the scene.

Police say Phelps pushed his way up from the back of the bus and shoved the cart toward Ambrose while he was still stabbing the driver, keeping himself between Ambrose and passengers.

It malfunctioned and he went berserk, pepper-spraying the driver and blinding him, then cutting him up. The incident started, according to police, when Ambrose boarded the bus and tried to put cash in the fare box. Police say John Phelps, 61, pushed his foldable shopping cart between the driver and the suspect, 65-year-old James Ambrose (pictured), during Tuesday's incident at Waters Avenue and 9th Street, protecting the driver and others from further injury. This time, the driver survived, but required emergency surgery for wounds to his leg. Thomas Dunn was killed in a similar attack in May. It was the second stabbing of a HART driver this year. TAMPA - A HART (Hillsborough transit) bus passenger is hailed as a Good Samaritan after coming to the rescue of a transit driver being stabbed by a man with a box cutter.