A Greyhound bus crashed this morning outside Phoenix after one of the passengers attacked the driver, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
DPS Officer Carrick Cook said 24 people were hospitalized.
24 taken to various hospitals in Phx stemming from bus incident in Tonopah. Suspect is in custody. More to follow.
— Officer Carrick Cook (@DPSOfficerCook) January 23, 201425 year old from Los Angeles attacks a bus driver west of Phoenix. Passengers helped subdue the suspect and stopped it from going wrongway.
— Officer Carrick Cook (@DPSOfficerCook) January 23, 2014Driver and passengers stopped the bus 6 feet from oncoming traffic. True heroics by the driver and passengers who helped stop him
— Officer Carrick Cook (@DPSOfficerCook) January 23, 2014Stay tuned for updates.
UPDATE 9:07 a.m.: Cook says the bus was going east on Interstate 10, toward Phoenix, a little before 2 a.m. today when one of the passengers attacked the driver.
The passengers rushed up to help and were able to stop the bus from going into oncoming traffic. Despite some reports that the bus flipped, Cook says that's not true.
The man accused of attacking the driver is 25-year-old Maquel Donyel Morris, and Cook says Morris and his girlfriend ran from the scene of the crash. About 30 minutes later, they wandered back to the crash and were arrested by highway patrol officers.
Morris could face 48 counts of endangerment, 24 counts of assault, and three counts of aggravated assault, Cook says.
Of the 24 people who had to be hospitalized, three had to be airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in downtown Phoenix.
"One person was one of the passengers who helped subdue the suspect while the bus was driving," Cook says. "One person suffered some fractures to their lower body. One suffered a back injury."
DPS spokesman Bart Graves adds that investigators believe Morris was under the influence of drugs. Morris was also hospitalized at the time of this update.
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