‘I didn’t want him to get hurt’: Good Samaritan saves bus driver from knife attack

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV/Gray News) - A Texas man is being honored for his heroic actions in preventing a knife attack on a city bus.

Bus rider Corey Street said the situation started on May 31 when he noticed another passenger acting aggressively.

It was a critical moment for the Longview resident, as a routine bus ride turned to chaos.

The erratic passenger ended up attacking the bus driver while holding a knife.

“When I saw the knife close to the guy, I mean, I didn’t want him to get hurt,” Street said.

Surveillance video captured the tense moments on video, showing a man pulling a knife and fighting with the driver, before Street grabs hold of the attacker.

Street wrestled him over to the door and signaled to the driver to open it before throwing the man off the bus.

“That was like a TV moment, when you see someone going crazy like that, and you are wondering who’s going to make the next move or do anything. Seems like I just had to do something at the time to protect the bus driver,” Street said.

At Thursday night’s council meeting, Longview Mayor Kristen Ishihara and council members recognized Street for his actions, calling him a hero.

“To watch someone physically pick up someone and remove them for the safety of someone else, I just thought, my gosh. And so he is a hero,” Ishihara said.

Esteban Pitman was later identified as the man who attacked the bus driver. He was arrested in connection with the attack.

“I mean, I don’t consider myself a hero, I just tried to help somebody,” Street.

Street said he still plans to ride the bus and would do it all over again.