Man Charged After Violent Assault on Metro Transit Bus Driver

Oct 23

A Minneapolis man is accused of attacking a Metro Transit bus driver with a rock-like object downtown earlier this week.

The attack left the driver with a serious head injury, requiring 17 stitches to close the wound.

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Prosecutors charged 43-year-old Lloyd Alton Booyer with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon causing substantial bodily harm and obstructing the operation of a transit vehicle through force or violence. The charges stem from an assault that occurred Oct. 20 near 7th Street and Park Avenue in Minneapolis.

According to the criminal complaint, officers responded to reports that a bus driver had been assaulted while operating a Metro Transit route. They arrived to find the driver bleeding heavily from a deep forehead cut, with blood on the bus floor. The driver was taken to the hospital, where he received 17 stitches.

Investigators reviewed bus surveillance video showing a man later identified as Booyer boarding near Chicago Avenue and Franklin Avenue East. He stood near the driver and spoke with him calmly for several minutes before holding what appeared to be a rock or brick and suddenly swinging at the driver, striking him in the face. The impact was loud enough to be captured on the bus’s audio recording. Booyer then ran from the scene.

Still images from the surveillance video were shared with law enforcement. A probation officer identified Booyer as the suspect, noting his distinctive facial birthmarks and missing upper teeth matched those seen in the footage.

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Booyer was on probation at the time of the assault. Court records show that in September 2024, he stabbed a man in the head in Minneapolis after asking for a cigarette. He pleaded guilty in January and was sentenced the following month to time served, with a 21-month prison term stayed. In the departure report, the judge wrote that Booyer was particularly amenable to probation.

Later that same day, Booyer was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman outside the downtown Minneapolis library. The criminal complaint states he approached the woman and touched her genital area over her jeans. Surveillance video reportedly confirmed the woman’s account, and Booyer was taken into custody and booked into jail. He was later charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a gross misdemeanor.

Booyer made an intial court appearance where bail was set at $35,000 with conditions barring contact with the victim and prohibiting him from riding Metro Transit buses or light rail.

If convicted, Booyer faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for the assault charge, and up to 3 years in prison and a $5,000 fine for interfering with transit operations.

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