EVIL BX. AMBUSH
Punk hunted in daylight bash of school bus driver, 71
A 71-year-old man beaten bloody and nearly unconscious by a stranger on a Bronx street has one question for his attacker.
“Why?” school bus driver Charles McLennon wants to know. “I’m shocked.”
McLennon, of the Bronx, was walking back to work after a break when, with no warning, he was struck from behind with an unknown object on Third Ave. near E. 167th St. in Morrisania about 2:20 p.m. on May 1, cops said.
“I didn’t see him coming,” McLennon told the Daily News. “I just felt it on my face and I fell to the ground.”
When McLennon struggled back to his feet, his youthful attacker, wearing Nike sweatpants with the words “Just Do It” emblazoned on one leg, continued to pummel him, knocking him down again.
McLennon could vaguely make out a dark-blue hoodie and dreadlocks as he groped around on the ground for his fallen keys, but never clearly saw his attacker’s face.
“There was blood all over my eyes,” he explained. “I was in such a daze.”
His attacker ran off without taking anything from McLennon, leaving cops baffled by the motive.
McLennon was able to reach for his phone and call 911. He spent the night at Lincoln Hospital, where he needed stitches to close cuts above and below his left eye.
After probing the unprovoked attack for a couple of weeks, cops Saturday released surveillance video of the suspect sitting on a milk crate, Apple earphones hanging from one ear and his face clearly visible.
McLennon can’t fathom why his assailant chose him.
“I just like to stay home and sleep late and watch sports,” he said. “That’s how I’ve been all my life.”
McLennon is now back on the job at SuperTrans Bus Co., where he has worked since 2002, to the delight of all his schoolkids.
“They love me. I’ve been the same driver for years. I take all the brothers and sisters. They all come downstairs to see Charles in the morning,” he said. “When I was down for a few days, they were so worried. They were sad. The parents were calling, they didn’t know what happened.”
McLennon plans to meet with cops Wednesday as they continue to work to identify his attacker.
“You’re walking down the street and all of a sudden you’re on your a— and there’s blood all over you — and you don’t understand why or what happened,” he said. But he’s not staying scared. “No, no,” he said. “I go to work every day. I just have to take a little more caution.”
Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.