Man Charged With Allegedly Assaulting Bus Driver

A Wakefield man was arrested for allegedly attacking an MBTA bus driver in Malden on Tuesday morning. 

Ryan O'Donnell, 19, of Wakefield, reportedly got on the Route 131 bus at the Oak Grove T station around 6:45 a.m., and allegedly refused to leave when a driver told him his Charlie Card had insufficient funds for the ride.  

The victim, a 58-year-old male driver, said O'Donnell allegedly spit at him as he left the bus. 

"Subsequent to that," a MBTA PD press release reads, "a struggle ensued where the victim...was struck with a closed fist multiple times in the face, causing injury and severe bleeding from the nose." 

Officers said the victim, a 58-year-old male employee, was taken to the hospital with injuries.