A Keys bus driver and a passenger argued over a mask, cops say. A metal pipe was involved
A bus driver in the Florida Keys tried to attack a passenger with a metal pipe Wednesday night because the man did not have his mask on his face when he was exiting the vehicle, Monroe County sheriff’s deputies say.
Denys Santos, 48, who drives an American Transportation bus that takes passengers from the mainland to various workplaces in the Keys, is in Monroe County jail on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
According to the arrest report, he ran after passenger Douglas K. Mills Jr. while swinging the pipe after the two argued about the mask, which is mandatory on the bus because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Mills, 21, told deputies that when he got on the bus in Key Largo around 7 p.m., he was wearing the face covering, but he lowered it to talk on his cellphone when he sat down in the back of the vehicle.
As the bus approached Mills’ stop at mile marker 88 of U.S. 1 in Islamorada, he walked toward the front of the vehicle with the mask still not covering his face.
According to the report, Santos tapped a sign posted near the driver’s seat with the pipe, which deputies say is about three-feet long. The sign says passengers must have their faces covered. Before the bus came to a complete stop, Santos and Mills began to argue.
When the bus stopped, Mills got off, and Santos chased him, swinging the pipe, according to the report. Mills’ account of the incident was corroborated by a witness who called deputies later in the day.
The witness said Mills was running and had to dodge the swinging pipe as he tried to get away from Santos.
“Douglas stated that he was fearful that the driver was intentionally intending to hit him with the pole and inflict serious bodily injury as he was being chased,” Deputy Scott Acosta wrote in his report.
Mills ran across U.S. 1 to a Tom Thumb gas station and went inside. Santos got back on the bus and headed south to make the rest of his stops.
While deputies interviewed Mills, Acosta saw the bus making its way back north on the highway. He pulled it over. Acosta found the pipe and asked Santos what happened.
Santos said he argued with Mills, but denied trying to hit him with the pipe.
