Boston Herald | Colneth Smiley Jr. | Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A Wakefield teen was arrested this morning after MBTA Transit Police say he spat on and attacked an MBTA bus driver who refused to let the wannabe passenger ride for free at Oak Grove Station in Malden.

MBTA Transit Police were called to the Orange line station around 6:50 a.m., where they found the 58-year-old bus driver, a 10-year veteran of the T, bleeding heavily from the nose.

The driver told police that while he was parked and behind the wheel of the Route 131 bus, a man, later identified as Ryan O’Donnell, 19, of Wakefield, boarded with a Charlie Card that had insufficient funds to cover the fare, Transit Police said.

O’Donnell “became belligerent and demanded to ride for free,” Transit police said, after the bus driver told him he didn’t have enough money on the Charlie Card. Before exiting the bus, Transit Police said O’Donnell “turned and spat at the bus operator.” A struggle took place and the driver was struck “with a closed fist multiple times in the face causing injury and severe bleeding from his nose,” Transit Police said.

The driver was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

O’Donnell is expected to be arraigned today in Malden District Court where he will face charges of assault and battery.

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