Arrest in Bus Driver Killing

Yesterday, police arrested a 20-year-old man
for fatally stabbing a bus driver aboard a B46 bus in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon. Horace Moore reportedly confessed to police "that he stabbed the driver, Edwin Thomas, 46... after an argument on the bus." (Thomas is pictured at left.)

The police now give a somewhat different narrative of what happened: The NY Times says Moore "sneaked onto the bus through a rear door about 12:30 p.m. and sat down without paying" and when "the suspect asked Mr. Thomas for a transfer on Malcolm X Boulevard at Gates Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Mr. Thomas gave it to him, but the two men argued."

The Daily News explains, "Thomas stepped outside with the miscreant passenger. The driver finally provided a transfer, but Moore responded to the goodwill gesture with a punch to Thomas' head. Moore chased Thomas back into the bus, pushing his way inside as the driver tried to close the doors, and then stabbed Thomas in the chest, authorities said." Moore, a drug dealer, apparently confessed to one of his clients, who tipped off the police.

Moore is described as an ex-con and the Post details, "his criminal record includes a subway weapons-possession rap in Brooklyn last July, a disorderly conduct charge for beating a subway fare and a charge of endangering the welfare of a child for sexual misconduct with a 13-year-old girl."

Thomas' fellow bus drivers mourned his loss and told the NY Times their jobs are dangerous. One said of farebeaters, "We’re up here like sitting ducks at the mercy of these people." And the NYC Transit Bus Operator's Guide says, "The key to your reaction to fare evasion is your tone. In the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., you need to put up some passive resistance.”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on December 3, 2008 10:04 AM

Comments [rss]

Amanda Harletsch

these fucktards should be put down!

what a waste of resources!

r1b2

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, mo fo.

just saying

^ For some odd reason there are security cameras in some M42 buses which run across 42nd St. In fact, these buses each have about 5 cameras in them!

Why 42nd St? This has got to be one of the safest routes in NYC. Put those cameras in buses in areas with the most problems.

chris lee

all buses should have security cameras.

chris lee

It's the quandary we live with. This person is the product of a demographic. That whole neighborhood is a ferment for this sort. His parents were quite possibly hard working and honorable maybe but these are the people who breed unsupervised criminal types. It's against our ethos to make broad generalizations of course (publicly).. out of deferrence to the small percentage that make it successfully out of the ghettoes. But these kinds of stories always bring us back the predicament.

Felix Hoenikker

I don't care what color he is....it's time for a good old lynching.

FrankMartin

zodak

I agree, but it must burn a hard working guy like this to see people cheat day after day.

I was on the 2 train and at a stop these two street vendors got on and I happened to make eye contact with one. the guy went nuts. "why you looking at me" he said to his friend "look at this cracker all up in my grill." he was loud and started to threaten me. I was stunned. he clearly had issues, even his companion didn't sit near him. I just smiled at him and his friend. I said nothing, I just watched his hands. What I wanted to do was kick his teeth in. I was getting off at the next stop I smiled at him again and got off. I remember thinking, who knows what he has in his pockets. People don't typically act like that unless they are prepared or armed for a fight. Man I was pissed that I had to walk away, but it was the right thing to do

"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."

Now the question is what will the good men do about this evil man and what will they do about protecting drivers in the future.

jterry121

ATTN Gothamist- if you passed Journalism 101, youd realized that when a headline reads "Arrest Made in Bus Stabbing" Youre supposed to provide a picture of the Stabber, & not the victim.

captainblackout

@1 - wtf does this have to do with the working poor?

zodak

i don't understand why the driver bothered to argue with that savage.

i know a bus driver who never argued with criminals, he would give them a transfer, if they asked. the most he did was give them a look to let them know he knew what they were doing.

it's not worth putting your life in danger.

FrankMartin

Thanks rasputin.

rasputinsghost

According to the daily news, he knocked up his 13 year old girlfriend when he was 17. Class act.

kswissreject

It's so ridiculous that someone died over a bus fare/transfer. Not that murder is ever ok, but to willingly take someone's life over something so trivial - I just can't comprehend this at all. Hope he rots.

FrankMartin

"endangering the welfare of a child for sexual misconduct with a 13-year-old girl."

I'd love to know the details of this? a plea from a more serious charge? How old was he when it happened?

13 years old. I wonder what kind of sexual conduct isn't misconduct.

smh

they should give the bus drivers a can of mace, similar to letter carriers. bus drivers, especially the night drivers, have to deal with some super sketchy people. it takes some real tough skin to be an NYC bus driver.