An inebriated Israeli attempted to wrest the steering wheel from the driver of an Egged bus Thursday in what could have been a repeat of the July 6 disaster that took 16 lives.
But this time, the driver overcame the assailant and no one was injured.
The incident occurred on a bus bound from Jerusalem to Rishon le-Zion, about 10 miles west of the capital.
A man who appeared to be drunk sitting behind the driver rose suddenly and tried to steer the bus off the road.
“He grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and lay on the window platform,” said the driver, Shraga Shababo of Maoz Zion.
“As soon as I saw him, I hit the breaks and pulled the hand brake. I then forced him down on the platform, but he began wrestling with me.
“I gave him two punches in the face and I think his head is open,” Shababo said, who eventually overcame the attacker before he was arrested.
The incident last month, which took a high toll of dead and injured, was classified as a terrorist act, although the Arab perpetrator could not be linked to a terrorist organization.
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