Medford Man Allegedly Assaulted MBTA Bus Driver, Causing Crash

A Medford man was arraigned Thursday on charges he assaulted an MBTA bus driver in October, causing the bus to hit three parked cars.

Douglas Bergeron, 32, who has three other criminal cases against him in progress, is being charged with assault and battery on a public employee, interfering with a bus driver and three counts of wanton destruction of property, according to a Friday release from the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.

The incident occurred on Oct. 13 on the MBTA’s 177 bus route, which goes from Boston’s Maverick Station to Revere’s Wonderland.

Bergeron was arraigned in Chelsea District Court and held on $300 bail.

He allegedly assaulted the 39-year-old bus driver after getting on the bus in Chelsea.

The bus driver let Bergeron and his female companion on the bus, even though his Charlie Card didn’t have enough money on it for the both of them, according to authorities.

Bergeron then began a “lengthy exposition” on why he was traveling without money, according to authorities. It also included an account of his sexual activity that day and an admission that he “had to rob somebody to get some money,” authorities said.

After that, Bergeron allegedly became heated and violent, shouting in the driver’s face and then striking him in the face. The driver, who lost control of the bus at this point, suffered facial contusions, a fractured finger and a sprained wrist, according to the release.

Bergeron and his companion were later identified through surveillance footage.

Before he was ID’d, in the three days after the crash, Bergeron was arrested by Malden police on an unrelated breaking and entering charge, which is why his arraignment was delayed to Thursday.

Bergeron also has an open trespassing case in Boston Municipal Court and convictions for malicious destruction of property, receiving stolen property, breaking and entering, larceny over $250, operating under the influence, operating without a license, leaving the scene of property damage and drug offenses, according to authorities.