The 29-year-old suspect is from Manhattan and police say he assaulted the driver after the accident Saturday at Riverdale and Ellsworth avenues, right on the Yonkers/Bronx border -- a turnaround location for buses.
Yonkers Police say Thywill Anasu is the motorist seen trying to drive around the bus and colliding with it as it makes a U-turn.
After the minor crash, both drivers got out of their vehicles. Police say the Anasu attacked the 13-year veteran MTA bus driver, Johnny Rodriguez, and threw him to the ground.
The bus driver's union says Rodriguez was attacked from behind and was punched, body slammed and choked. They say he suffered two brain bleeds, a concussion and neck and back and shoulder injuries. He remains hospitalized.
Anasu is now charged with second-degree assault. He was arraigned Wednesday and bail was set at $5,000 cash/$50,000 bond.
The suspect's mother defended her son on Wednesday afternoon.
"I know my son is not out there to cause trouble," she said. "He's always the good guy and a good boy. So, this thing is just surprising me right now."
He works as a colonoscopy technician in Yonkers. Police tracked his vehicle and arrested him during a traffic stop when he re-entered Yonkers.
The arrest comes as police search for a suspect wanted in another attack on an MTA worker.
In that case, a 58-year-old subway operator was spit on, kicked and punched after he advised passengers that the train had reached its last stop inside the East 177 Street-Parkchester subway station.
And just weeks before that there was another assault on a bus driver in Fordham where police say a passenger on a BX3 bus got into an argument and then punched the driver in the face before running off.
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