SALT LAKE CITY — Neil Uemura was driving his daily bus route Tuesday night when the unthinkable happened.
"I noticed there was an individual at the southern end of the Trax station, then we locked eyes and I thought, 'This can't be good,' then he's asking all the while 'Where you from? Where you from?'" said Uemura, a veteran Utah Transit Authority bus driver with seven years of experience. "Before you know it, he's choking me."
Uemura served 20 years in the military, but he said what happened to him Tuesday night was something he's never experienced before.
"I spent a year and a half in the green zone in Iraq in the Army. Nothing like this happened to me, and I get home to my home country and here I am assaulted by this individual," he said.
After the suspect started choking Uemura, he began kicking and punching him in the face and ribs, resulting in serious injuries.
"All that trauma caused my left eardrum to be ruptured, a scratch in my cornea, and a laceration about that big on the back of my head that required six staples to close it up," he said.
Investigators have not yet determined a motive in Uemura's case, but Uemura believes he may have been targeted because of his race.
"I didn't put it together till I got to the hospital why this guy was asking me where I'm from and I'm like, 'I'm from Salt Lake City,'" he said. "Then I thought,'Oh, he means what country are you from,' so I'm thinking this is more or less a hate crime."
Unfortunately, Uemura is not the only bus driver to experience this as violence against bus operators is on the rise.
"It became very noticeable during COVID that we saw more incidents involving bus operators," UTA spokesman Carl Arky said. "And it wasn't just UTA; it was throughout the entire United States."
"I've heard of other drivers who have been assaulted, but I think like any job, we're just kind of prone no matter if you're a bus driver or clerk at a 7-Eleven working a midnight shift," Uemura said.
Uemura does plan to return behind the wheel, but he says he will be more vigilant going forward.
"I used to carry pepper spray, which I didn't have on me at the time, but I'm thinking in the future, 'Always look over your shoulder,'" he said.
UTA says they will continue to support Uemura's recovery and will work alongside the District Attorney's Office as they continue their investigation.
