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Tampa Police Jail 19-Year-Old In Attack On Female Bus Driver

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By JOSH POLTILOVE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

TAMPA - Luis Daniel Colon made sure he was the last passenger on a HART bus Monday night, then jumped up, held a knife to the driver's neck and told her to drive, police said.

It was about 10 p.m., and they were near Interbay Boulevard and Manhattan Avenue in South Tampa.

He told her to drive to a dark area, police said.

"The defendant actually cut his own hand and licked his own blood," a police report states.

According to the report:

Colon, 19, of Tampa, touched the driver inappropriately and kissed her while she drove. He forced her to stop the bus near West Shore Boulevard and Wallace Avenue. He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the bus.

They walked down the street, and he was "essentially keeping her hostage."

Colon took her to a dark area. She broke away, and he punched her face. He chased her as she ran to the bus.

"She saw her opportunity to escape when he was trying to take her behind the house in that dark area," police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said. "Her instincts to do what she did were correct. What he would have done to her in that location, only he knows. But we can pretty much suspect the worst."

Colon then fled.

Once police received the 911 call, 12 units, including a helicopter, responded and had him in custody within 10 minutes. He was arrested at 10:45 p.m. in the 4600 block of Pearl Avenue by Officer Eric Brook, Davis said.

Colon had a bloody hand and scratches. He told police the injuries were from a fight he was in because of his Latin Kings gang membership, but police say he got the injuries from fighting with the driver.

He is not in the Tampa Police Department's database as a member of the Latin Kings, Davis said.

Reached by phone Tuesday, the bus driver said she signaled for help to a HART dispatcher, using a safe word, and the dispatcher called police. Her name is being withheld because of the nature of the charges.

A person who lived nearby also called 911 after hearing the driver scream, Davis said. The 911 calls are unavailable to the media because they are part of an ongoing investigation. HART video and audio recordings have been turned over to police and are unavailable to the media, HART spokeswoman Kathy Karalekas said.

Mike McCoy, president of Local 1593 of the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union which represents the drivers, said the incident brings to light how dangerous it is to drive buses in urban areas.

He said the driver is a strong-willed person who is going to be all right.

He also said he had issues with how HART handled the incident while it occurred.

"There were some policies that we don't think were adhered to properly last night, and we're going to address them with management," he said Tuesday. "The policies, in our opinion, weren't followed properly. And we'd like to correct them before this incident happens again."

McCoy would not discuss specific issues he had.

Without knowing more details of McCoy's complaints, Karalekas said she couldn't comment on them.

"The safety of our drivers is of utmost importance," she said, adding HART offers an employee assistance program and that if the bus driver needs counseling, it will be provided for her. "We're helping TPD with their investigation. And we do our own internal analysis, too. If we find anything that would need to be different, if it came out in the investigation, we would do that."

Karalekas declined to comment on HART's safety procedures, saying that doing so might cause a safety risk.

She did say that buses are safe to ride at night.

"Riding a bus is really as safe as anything else - driving your own car or anything," she said.

Statistics weren't immediately available on other incidents on HART buses, Karalekas said.

Colon was charged with carjacking with a deadly weapon, armed kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, lewd and lascivious behavior and battery. He was being held in Orient Road Jail on Tuesday. His bail had not been set.

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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