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MTA Bus Driver Slashed in Stomach With Box Cutter 'Didn't Feel Anything'

By Kathleen Culliton | October 20, 2016 1:22pm | Updated on October 20, 2016 2:24pm
 Bus driver George Seger, 58, didn't realize he had been cut until he looked down and saw the blood stain on his shirt, he said
Bus driver George Seger, 58, didn't realize he had been cut until he looked down and saw the blood stain on his shirt, he said
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Courtesy of Annie Seger

QUEENS — An MTA bus driver was slashed across the stomach with a box cutter early Thursday morning by a man who then demanded his victim call police, according to police and the driver.

George Seger, 58 was returning to the Q18 bus he had parked at the stop near 69th Street and Queens Boulevard around 3:40 a.m. with a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee when Carlos Lema, 48, attacked, authorities and Seger said.

"He swung his arm and he slashed me with a box cutter," said Seger in a telephone interview. "I looked down and my shirt started going red." 

Seger then heard his attacker, whom he said did not appear to be intoxicated or high, scream "Call the police! Call the police! Call the police!" 

Seger did just that, he said. 

When police and emergency responders arrived about three minutes later, Lema raised his arms in the air and allowed himself to be arrested, said Seger. 

"The police response was phenomenal," said Seger. "I could not have expected or wanted anything more." 

Seger was transported to Elmhurst Hospital where he received 11 stitches for the 4-inch gash on his stomach. 

"I didn't feel anything when I was cut," said Seger. "But it's going to hurt tomorrow." 

Lema is expected to be charged with assault, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and disorderly conduct, according to police. He had not yet been arraigned on the charges as of Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Lema has two prior arrests for frequenting a prostitute in 1994 and possession of a forged instrument in 2005, police said.

John Samuelsen, president of transportation union TWU Local 100, said this attack shows just how dangerous a bus driver's job can be. 

“This horrendous attack on one of our dedicated bus operators [is a] big reason why transit workers deserve good wages,”  Samuelsen said. “They are out there in uniform, targets for the criminals and the crazies, as they move millions of riders every day.”

Seger returned home from the hospital later the same day and immediately called his daughter Caitlin, a sophomore at Smith College in Massachusetts, to tell her about the unexpected attack.  

"She's been told not worry," said Seger, who is taking two weeks off to recuperate. "Dad is fine, Dad will heal and this will become a distant memory."