Rider hurls racist slurs and threatens to shoot bus driver, Washington cops say

A Seattle man was arrested after police accused him of yelling racial slurs and threatening to shoot a bus driver when she told him to exit at the last stop, according to King County Superior Court documents.

The driver told a King County Sheriff’s Office deputy that she played the “‘end of the line’ pre-recording over the PA system,” announcing they had reached the metro’s last stop, court documents state.

When she told the passengers to de-board, one of them — identified as Matthew Mahaffey, 46 — started yelling and told the driver to take him to Capitol Hill, although that’s where the metro had stopped, authorities said.

The driver reiterated that they had already arrived at the last stop, according to court documents, but Mahaffey “continued to yell at her, demanding she take him to another location.”

Mahaffey “berated” the driver as he approached her, authorities said, but the driver was able to block him with her “COVID Plexiglas partition.”

Mahaffey is accused of calling the driver several racial slurs and threatening to shoot her, despite never showing any weapon, authorities said.

The driver called dispatch, requesting Metro Transit Police because she “feared for her life.” Mahaffey left the coach and walked to Volunteer Park and the driver stayed in the metro for 15 minutes while waiting for police, according to documents.

Mahaffey was spotted walking down a street and deputies say they quickly detained him. Deputies asked Mahaffey if he made threats to shoot the driver and he confirmed he did so, again calling her a racial slur, , according to documents.

Mahaffey also confirmed with deputies that he raised his phone to take a picture of the driver before leaving the coach, documents state, but he would not explain why.

Mahaffey was booked into the King County jail on charges of malicious harassment, documents state. He was denied bail.