Bus driver showered with glass after rock shatters window on Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE (WABC) -- A routine morning bus route was interrupted Friday when a window was shattered by a flying rock.

The incident happened along the Upper West Side, and although that driver wasn't seriously hurt, his colleagues say the incident in cause for concern.

No passengers were injured, but the driver ended up with glass all over his left arm after the projectile smashed through the driver's side window. Co-workers say he went to the emergency room to be treated for cuts.

"He said he was either driving or at a light, and he heard bang," bus driver Courtney Spencer said. "And all the glass cut him on his hands."

It was less than a month ago that another driver, also on the Upper West Side, was slashed by a passenger.

Police say the man was trying to steal the driver's jewelry.

"Assaults happen every single day," driver Glen Grays said.

Eyewitness News spoke with the drivers who frequent these routes, and they say these attacks are becoming more frequent. They say being a bus driver in the city is like being a soldier in war.

"All of us here, not sure if we'll go home without being hit, cursed at, spit on," Spencer said.

"There's a lot of risk," another said. "You can get shot, stabbed, you don't know who's coming through the door."

"It's not just physical assaults, it's verbal assaults, too," driver J. Perez said. "There's no respect for us operators at all."

The MTA says it is committed to installing safety partitions on all MTA buses within the next two years, though that would not have done any good in this situation. Police are investigating.