CBS2 Exclusive: MTA Driver Says He's Been Attacked Twice Along Bx 19 Bus Route

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is on edge.

In one month, there have been three attacks with bus drivers being beaten behind the wheel.

The most recent case took place along the Bronx 19 bus route. Speaking exclusively with CBS2's Valerie Castro, the victim said the violence was completely unprovoked.

"He punched my neck, he punched my side of my head, so much time," Dennis Dunwell said.

Dunwell, 69, has been a bus driver for 13 years. He said he's been attacked behind the wheel at least twice.

Surveillance video captured the most recent assault, a violent beating.

Dunwell said he was parked along his route on Southern Boulevard when someone approached the door.

The person stepped on the bus and appeared to say something to Dunwell before reaching over the partition.

"As he walked in, he said something to me about, 'Don't do that again.' I said, 'What did you say?'" he said, "He just started to punch me, punch me all over, all over my face, right over the glass, the partition for the glass."

At one point the suspect got off the bus, only to jump back on to continue the tirade.

Dunwell said he tried to escape through the driver's side window, but was trapped.

"There was nowhere to run, and the hardest one he gave me was right in the eye. You can see my eye is red, and I got double vision and I can't even see straight," he said.

Dunwell said he just recently returned to work after he spent time off recovering from another attack in November.

"A passenger threw coffee all over my head on the same bus route," he said.

Just last month in Brooklyn, another bus driver was also beaten while he sat helpless in the driver's seat. The suspect in that case turned himself in on Tuesday.

Dunwell said the latest incident has him rethinking the job. He hopes the suspect is soon caught by police.

"They should be locked away for life," he said.