Man charged with choking Brooklyn MTA bus driver over fender-bender

A Brooklyn man stormed onto an MTA bus in a fit of rage and choked the driver over a minor fender-bender, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Shevaughn Legall, 25, exploded in anger at about 9:05 a.m. Tuesday, accusing the 68-year-old bus driver of sideswiping Legall’s car in Bedford-Stuyvesant, according to prosecutors.
Legall pulled his car in front of the victim’s B26 bus on Halsey St. at Lewis Ave., blocking the way. He then stormed onto the bus and started choking the driver, prosecutors said.
The victim, who suffered pain to his neck, refused medical attention.
Cops arrested Legall at the scene. He was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Wednesday for felony assault, strangulation and other charges.
His lawyer, Nora Wallace of the Legal Aid Society, described him as an electrician with a 1-year-old daughter and no criminal record.
“In no way am I minimizing the charges here, but there is no serious physical injury alleged here,” Wallace said.
Prosecutors requested Legall be held on $15,000 bond, but Judge Joshua Glick ordered him placed on supervised release without bail — a decision that drew outrage from the driver’s union and his MTA boss..
J.P. Patafio, vice president of Brooklyn buses for Transport Workers Union Local 100, had sharp words for Wallace when asked to comment about her statement that the driver wasn’t seriously hurt.
“God forbid someone ever chokes her,” he said. “Let her be on the end of being choked and say it’s not serious. … I know she has to do her job, but frankly it’s b—s—. You laid your hand on my [bus] operator, we’re taking this very seriously.”
That drew a rebuke from the Legal Aid Society.
“J.P. Patafio’s heinous comments ignore the fundamental principle that we have a constitutional obligation to zealously represent low-income New Yorkers accused of a crime,” Legal Aid’s statement said. “Advocating for violence against our staff, even in a hypothetical context, is utterly unacceptable and deeply disturbing.”
As for the charges against Legall, Legal Aid said, “Shevaughn Legall, a single father of a young child, has no prior convictions and is presumed innocent. We are still waiting for the initial discovery from the district attorney’s office and urge the public to refrain from making hasty judgments.”
As part of his release, Legall must check in with the court three times a month, and he’s not allowed to have any contact with the victim.
“The criminal justice system let us down,” said Frank Annicaro, MTA’s bus boss, who watched the proceedings from the gallery.
“The NYPD swiftly responded and arrested this unhinged lunatic who attacked our bus operator. The district attorney followed the legislation that’s been put in [place] to protect transit workers and tried to prosecute and set bail. And this judge is letting this lunatic walk.”
“I have a bus operator who is home injured, who was attacked, who has to go through Thanksgiving scared with his family,” Annicaro added. “But this unhinged person who just brutally attacked our bus operator will sit home and have dinner with his family and perhaps strategize his case. This is absolutely outrageous.”