This article was originally published by The New Orleans Advocate on August 29, 2019. See full article online.
An attorney for a man stabbed in the head on a Regional Transit Authority bus over the weekend said his client was stabbed by the bus driver during a fight over the fare.
Lawyer Gary Bizal said Wednesday that his client, 25-year-old Kentrell Leggins, had come out of a coma he was in following the incident, but his family had not gotten answers about whether the driver will be booked in the incident.
New Orleans police declined comment on the case, other than saying that an investigation remained “open and active” and that “no charges have been filed at this time.”
Police sometimes hold off making an immediate arrest in cases where a person claims self-defense. Officials, though, haven’t said whether that is a possible factor in the case.
An RTA spokeswoman didn’t respond to requests for information on the status of the driver, whose name hasn’t been released by officials.
Bizal said Leggins and a friend tried to get on the bus at Canal Street and Elk Place about 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
Citing an account from Leggins’ friend, Bizal said he understood the driver and Leggins got into an argument when he and the friend were short on the fare.
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