A Hawthorne man who allegedly stabbed a Metro bus operator in the chest in the unincorporated Willowbrook area pleaded not guilty Monday to an attempted murder charge.
The case against Darnell Marshon Bray, 30, includes allegations that he used a knife during the crime and personally inflicted great bodily injury during the April 13 attack, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The Metro bus operator was driving his bus route "when the suspect started yelling at him," according to a statement released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"The victim stopped the bus at the intersection of 119th Street and Wilmington Avenue," according to a sheriff's department statement. "The suspect, without provocation, punched the victim in the face, then proceeded to stab the victim. The suspect exited the bus and fled northbound on Wilmington Avenue and out of view."
The Metro bus operator -- who was stabbed in the chest -- was treated at the hospital for his injuries and released, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Bray was arrested last Wednesday by the sheriff's department's Transit Services Bureau and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
He is due back at the Compton courthouse May 13. A hearing is scheduled that day to determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
He could face a potential life prison term if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney's Office.
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In a statement announcing the criminal case, District Attorney George Gascón called the attack on the driver "reprehensible" and said "the trauma endured by the bus' passengers is an appalling act of violence that has no place in our community."
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