Bus brawl turns bloody as sword-wielding attacker punches victim

A man has been arrested after allegedly attacking a city bus passenger with a “Japanese-style sword” in New Mexico earlier this week.

Law enforcement responded to the bloody scene on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call from a bus driver, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

A Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy reportedly witnessed a significant amount of blood on the front of the victim’s jacket. The person was also bleeding profusely from a laceration in the left eye socket and a laceration in the left ear [lobe],” according to Log.

The bus driver allegedly claimed that two male passengers started arguing while he was driving, so he stopped. Then, he saw suspect Brian Lee flash his still-sheathed “Japanese-type sword.”

After the driver demanded the 24-year-old get out of the vehicle, he allegedly began physically fighting with the other passenger.

Then, “Lee was pushed off the bus,” according to the Log. But the suspect would then have drawn his weapon before entering the vehicle and loading the victim.

“Once back on the bus, the attacker swung the sword with the pointy side facing [the victim]. The sword linked to [the victim]causing severe lacerations on the left side of his face,” a criminal complaint reads, according to the Log.

After that, the suspect reportedly fled.

Authorities then watched surveillance video that showed more of what happened. In the complaint, the sheriff’s deputy wrote what he saw in the video.

“I can clearly see…the offender connecting with [the victim’s] head, causing him to fall to the ground. While on the ground, the attacker lost control of the sword swinging so hard [that] he brought the offender to [lose] grab and drop the sword,” the deputy said in the complaint.

“After the sword was on the ground, the aggressor still intended to strike [the victim] on the head, so he started hitting [him] multiple times in the face/head with his fists clenched,” the deputy added.

Lee’s hands were said to still have blood on them when law enforcement found him. The complaint says he attempted to offer authorities a date of birth and name different from his own.

In addition to the aggravated battery, Lee was charged with concealment of identity, according to local news outlet KRQE. He was incarcerated in a detention center in the region.

This isn’t Lee’s first run-in with the law, the Log Remarks. He has already faced several charges of aggravated assault and battery against a peace officer.

Newsweek contacted the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office for comment.