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Police arrest bus fight suspect

Police arrest bus fight suspect
Posted at 3:07 PM, Jun 07, 2016
and last updated 2018-07-24 21:30:14-04

Officer arrested 41-year-old Christopher Smith for assaulting a man on the Waco Transit Bus.

Smith was arrested without incident at his Bellmead home at 4316 Greenbriar Dr.

According to Waco Police spokesman Sgt. Patrick Swanton, a suspect punched a 58-year-old victim in the head and face repeatedly in an unprovoked attack that occurred near the 2500 block of East Lakeshore Drive near the Pilgrim’s Pride plant before 10 a.m.

"This is an extreme amount of violence that happened in a split second. There were other people on the bus that could've been victims as well. For some reason, the suspect in this case focused on one person, on one victim on the bus,” said Swanton.

Waco Police detectives posted the surveillance video on social media on Tuesday afternoon and news outlets, such as News Channel 25 shared it.  

“We started getting phone calls within a matter of an hour or so of releasing that [news outlets] and to our Facebook fans. That's what it's about community stepping up and protecting each other and helping us solve crime,” said Swanton.

The surveillance video shows several people riding the bus at the time. The situation turns violent in just a few seconds for the victim.

“He is minding his own business. He nods to the suspect hello. Our victim had a sombrero hat on. We don't know what if anything this had to do with it. But we do know the suspect made a comment to the victim and immediately started assaulting him after that,” said Swanton.

According to police, the driver stopped the bus after the first assault. The video shows the suspect punching the victim in the face a second time. As soon as the driver pulls over, the suspect got off the bus and fled the scene on an orange or red bicycle he had placed on the bus bike rack.

Police say they believe the victim knows what the attacker yelled at him before the attack. Police have the audio of the incident and are investigating what occurred.

The detective working the case plans to do a follow up to confirm the identity of the suspect. His identity will not be released until he is charged. According to police, he could be charged with a felony for the assault because the victim had a previous disability, according to police.

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