Bus Driver Who Was Attacked Calls Intervening Passenger A Hero
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) – A man who violently attacked a Regional Transportation District bus driver in Aurora last June was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Vernon Dorsey, 26, was sentenced by a judge on Monday.
It was a warm summer night and RTD driver Arthur Stiffey was traveling his normal bus route along East Colfax Avenue when he asked a rider to put his window up because the air conditioning was on.
"Mr. Dorsey came up and basically told me I can't tell him what to do," Stiffey said. "He was absolutely out of control, screaming, 'I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you' … he began to start punching me in the head."
Dorsey repeatedly punched Stiffey, who was defenseless because he was strapped into his seat. That's when a passenger came to the driver's aid but was also attacked.
"I don't think I was scared. I didn't want to hit him. I told the fellow who was helping me, 'Look we've just got to hold him, don't hit him,' " Stiffey said.
Stiffey say he was concerned about the safety of all the passengers on his bus.
"I've got like 30 people back there. I don't know if this fellow has a gun or some sort of other weapon on him, and, 'We got to get you guys off the bus real fast,' " Stiffey said.
Stiffey called the passenger who helped him his hero.
"That man is a hero because I think without his intervention I could have been hurt a whole lot more badly than I was."
