Knife-wielding MTA rider attacks Manhattan bus driver for not speeding up

An MTA bus driver was attacked in Manhattan on Saturday by a knife-wielding passenger who wanted him to step on the gas, police said.

The driver, 58, was steering his M15 bus south near Madison and Catherine Sts. in Two Bridges when passenger Rashon Eagle, 43, got fed up that the trip to South Ferry was taking too long, said cops.

Eagle banged on the uniformed bus driver’s partition, cursing and yelling at him for not driving faster, MTA officials and cops said.

The driver reached the bus’ final stop at South St. near Whitehall St. at about 12:10 p.m. and Eagle exited the bus.

But when the driver rose up to exit, Eagle re-entered the bus and began swinging at him, slugging him repeatedly in the face and body, cops and MTA officials said.

At one point Eagle grabbed the driver by the neck and choked him, cops said.

As the victim tried to defend himself, Eagle pulled a knife, cops said.

But Eagle never opened its blade, and the driver managed to disarm him and hold onto him until cops arrived, MTA officials said.

The driver was treated for injuries to his face and hands at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue where he was in stable condition, police said.

Eagle, of Staten Island, was arrested and charged with assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and menacing for the attack.

NYC Transit’s senior vice president for buses, Frank Annicaro, denounced the attack as “lunacy” and “intolerable.”

“It’s now up to prosecutors to deliver justice with serious charges and maximum consequences,” Annicaro said in a statement.