Tacoma Man Attacks Metro Bus Driver With Broom Stick, Shatters Bus Window

What started as a normal request escalated into violence last week in King County, according to KIRO 7 on Wednesday (August 4).

The dispute went down last Tuesday (July 27) on Southwest Alaska at California Avenue Southwest, where a bearded man wearing a single orange sock and carrying a blue broomstick stepped on a bus, court documents say.

The bus driver told the passenger that masks are required on the bus through the public address system, reporters said. "If you don’t want to wear one, you have to get off," she announced. The man allegedly ignored the request and refused to get off the bus.

At the next stop, the bus driver reportedly parked the bus and approached the man, telling him to leave the bus or she would call for help. After she returned to her seat and didn't move the bus, that's when things turned violent.

"The man picked up his broom stick, walked to the front of the bus, forced his way into the driver’s compartment, and beat the driver with the stick five times," KIRO 7 learned. "One passenger confronted the man and two other passengers grabbed the man from behind and threw him out of the front door and onto the sidewalk."

The bus driver immediately closed all the doors, but that wasn't the end of the confrontation. Records claim the man jabbed one of the bus door windows with the broomstick, causing it to shatter, and then he walked away.

Authorities responded to the scene and used bus video footage to locate the man two blocks away. Officials identified the suspect as 49-year-old Nathan Ritchie Calvin of Tacoma. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.