An city bus driver was robbed by a passenger who struck her in the forehead with the butt of a knife in East Harlem Friday morning, according to police statement to source.
The driver, a 30-year-old mother of two, was operating an empty M15 bus when she picked up the passenger at 125th Street and Second Avenue around 3:05 a.m.
He held a note up to the plastic partition and she told him she couldn’t read it, a transit workers union official said.
But when she pulled into the bus stop at 119th St. she saw that the note read, “Don’t scream give me your money.” The rider meanwhile pulled out a knife.
The terrified bus driver, with just two and a half years on the job, intended to peel off a small bill but handed over a $100 bill, according to the union official.
The money wasn’t enough for the mugger, who reached around the partition and hit her in the head with the knife handle, giving her a small cut, police said.
The weapon appeared to be a hunting knife, according to a union official who spoke to the bus driver.
The mugger ran off the bus and has not been caught, cops said. The wounded driver refused medical attention.
