By Emma Seiwell, Rocco Parascandola, Elizabeth Keogh, Thomas Tracy
Source New York Daily News
An unhinged man armed with a BB pistol that looked like a more dangerous weapon commandeered a Queens MTA bus on Thursday — but from behind the wheel, the driver figured a way to help the passengers escape before he got away himself, police said.
After the bus driver fled, Dwayne Gaddy, 44, took the wheel, only to soon crash into a utility pole, knocking out power in the area for hours, cops said.
“The driver was calm and did a great job.... It could have been a lot worse,” said NYPD Deputy Chief Jerry O’Sullivan, head of Detective Borough Queens South.
The mayhem began about 7:30 a.m. when Gaddy, wearing a Yankees T-shirt, flagged down the Q4 bus near 199th St. and Linden Blvd. in St. Albans and jumped aboard, pulling the BB gun on the driver, police said.
“He made statements that he was being chased and directed the bus driver to continue driving,” NYPD Deputy Chief John Clune, the executive officer of Patrol Borough Queens South, told reporters at a press conference at the scene.
The bus driver continued on for a short distance.
When Gaddy put the weapon in his pants, the MTA driver slammed on the brakes, opened the doors and ordered all the passengers out.
About two dozen passengers raced out of the front and rear doors as Gaddy sat behind the driver’s seat, leaning against the plastic partition that separated the bus operator from the public, O’Sullivan said.
“There wasn’t any room for him to exit the bus with the passengers,” O’Sullivan said.
The bus driver was forced to drive Gaddy more than a mile further down Linden Blvd. to 232nd St.
There, as the bus was still moving, the driver jumped out of the vehicle’s driver side window, said police.
The gunman then leaped over the plastic partition into the driver’s space and grabbed the wheel.
He didn’t get far — a block away, the bus crashed into an an electric pole, across the street from a Cambria Heights school, cops said.
Children heading to school watched as the bus careened toward the pole, a witness told the Daily News.
“A lot of the parents, when they saw what happened, they just turned around and took their kids home,” said Vermel Prince, who lives on the block.
“The electrical line was sparking in the street,” Prince said. “The kids were on the sidewalk, across the street.”
Cops from 113th Precinct grabbed Gaddy soon after he jumped off the bus. He was taken to an area hospital for a psychological evaluation.
Prince, 68, said Gaddy was “docile” while he was being arrested. “He had a blank withdrawn expression on his face,” she said. “I wasn’t, like, alert. It doesn’t look like he was really completely comprehending the situation.”
The BB gun was found on the floor of the bus, cops said.
Prince, a retired special education teacher who grew up in the neighborhood, was still without power early Thursday evening.
“It’s very scary,” she said of the incident. “You can’t even go in the city bus. You’re not safe on the bus. This used to be a very quiet, sleepy community. There isn’t a week that goes by that something doesn’t go on here.”
A lifelong New Yorker, Prince said she no longer feels safe in the city and plans to move to Florida.
“I’ve had enough,” she said. “I’m leaving. It’s too much craziness for me. I love New York, but it’s dangerous for me to be here.”
Gaddy was charged with unlawful imprisonment, menacing, reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
The bus driver was taken to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.
“We’re thankful there were no serious injuries to the passengers or our bus operator,” said Frank Annicaro, senior vice president for the MTA’s Department of Buses.
Police sources said Gaddy has a documented history of psychological problems.
A man who owns a bodega on the corner where Gaddy flagged down the bus recognized the man, who he said made him feel uncomfortable when he came into his store.
The bodega owner recalled a recent uneasy interaction with the suspect when he entered the store to buy a beer. “He was trying to make a problem,” said the bodega owner, who asked to be identified as Frank.
The man initially refused to pay Frank for the beer — telling him to “take it easy” before forking over the cash.
“I was scared,” Frank said. “He said why you talking to me like that? I said take the beer and go. I don’t want no problems.”
Despite the alarming encounter, the small business owner said he was surprised by the incident.
“Never seen something like that,” he said. “I worked here three years.”
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