MTA driver keeps cool as knife-wielding homeless man storms her bus

BY DAN RIVOLI

December 21, 2016

Being menaced by a man armed with a knife is scary enough without having to worry about a bus full of passengers.

But bus driver Diana Belgrave had to contend with both when a homeless man with a knife accosted her and her passengers as she steered an M4 bus down Fifth Ave. on Tuesday.

“I was scared. I wanted to scream,” Belgrave, 32, told the Daily News on Wednesday. “I wanted to jump out the window, but of course I couldn’t leave everybody’s life in danger.”

Belgrave’s ordeal began when she allowed the suspect, Daryle McClan, 52, onto her bus when he asked for a ride from 110th St. to 50th St. without paying the fare.

That’s when McClan allegedly started to hit up bus passengers for money. When Belgrave told him to sit down and stop, he turned his attention to her, saying, “You’re next” — and demanded money.

“I said, ‘I have no money, sir,’ still being professional with him,” Belgrave recalled. “I want to keep the bus as calm as possible.”

That’s when McClan waved the knife at Belgrave, who feared that he could get around the plastic partition and slash her, authorities said.

The suspect then ran out of the bus, leaving Belgrave to call the incident into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus command center and continue her route until she reached 63rd St. and Fifth Ave.

McClan, who lives at a men’s shelter in Brooklyn, was arrested Wednesday morning. He has a lengthy record, with more than two dozen arrests since 1986, including for forcible touching on a train in 2013. Police said he has no history of mental illness.

“I don’t know what this guy had on him. I wasn’t trying to find out,” Belgrave said. “I just got out of there, as fast and safe as possible.”

With the bus pulled over, Belgrave, who’s been with the MTA for a little over two years, stood in the cold to flag down another bus, so her passengers could continue their trips.

McClan has been charged with robbery for Tuesday’s incident, said police.

“We’re grateful the NYPD was able to track down and arrest this criminal,” Transport Workers Union Local 100 President John Samuelsen said. “Bus operators on the front line too often are subject to assaults and abuse, so were glad this guy is off the streets and off our buses.”