By Globe Staff | April 11, 2011

The driver of an MBTA bus lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a building when he was assaulted by passengers, an outbreak of violence that began when the driver asked a passenger to put out a cigarette, officials said this afternoon.

Five people were transported to area hospitals and one person was briefly trapped between the bus and the building on Dudley Street where the crash took place, according to MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo and the Boston Fire Department.

Jennifer Mehigan, spokeswoman for the city’s Emergency Medical Services, said in an e-mail that none of the five people sustained serious injuries. Three were taken to Boston Medical Center and two patients were taken to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, she said.

Pesaturo said the bus operator, a 13-year veteran who is 39 years old, was taken to Boston Medical Center for examination.

According to the Boston Fire Department’s Twitter page, at least one person was trapped by the vehicle and was pulled to safety only after firefighters deployed air bags, hydraulic jacks, and the Jaws of Life on the bus.

Pesaturo said in a statement that the person trapped may have been the passenger who was feuding with the driver over smoking a cigarette on the bus. The driver was operating on the Route 15 line at the time.

No further information was immediately available.