In aftermath of grisly murder, Greyhound reconsiders its stance on "bus rage"

What happens when a psychotic passenger on your bus line stabs the person in the seat next to him "hundreds of times", decapitates him and then begins eating his victim's flesh? You need to reconsider your ad campaign claiming there's no such thing as "Bus Rage."

Greyhound pulls 'bus rage' ads [CBC]

[#1 posted by Anonymous , August 7, 2008 6:59 AM]

So this guy starts in on his seat mate, and everyone just takes off and lets him have his fun?
The article says they're heroes for holding the bus door closed; not sure the victims family would agree...

[#2 posted by brianary , August 7, 2008 7:56 AM]

I don't know if this has anything to do with Greyhound. I suspect if this guy was in an elevator or on a ferry the bees in his head would've still told him to look for the honey inside the person next to him.

[#3 posted by Clay , August 7, 2008 8:35 AM]

I'd imagine "bus rage" would be more akin to road rage, swearing loudly at people and perhaps stealing their seats or shoving them.

This event was unimaginably more sadistically horrific than anything I could conceive of being labeled simply "bus rage."

[#4 posted by Ryan Waddell , August 7, 2008 9:04 AM]

Obviously it wasn't a case of "bus rage" - rather it sounds more like the guy had a psychotic break. But you can sorta understand where Greyhound is coming from in pulling the ad campaign. I saw one of these ads on the street the other day and thought to myself "Yikes... Bad timing for this campaign to be hitting the streets!"

[#5 posted by Gloria , August 7, 2008 9:39 AM]

Ads have been around for a while -- weeks, if not a couple of months.

[#6 posted by DragonVPM , August 7, 2008 10:07 AM]

Yeah, as others have noted, this guy was seriously beyond anything that they might have been joking around wrt "Bus Rage"

I'd say their response is pretty good given the rather unique circumstances.

[#7 posted by Takuan , August 7, 2008 11:46 AM]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=702577

[#8 posted by Clay , August 7, 2008 1:18 PM]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=702577

Don't the Phelps folks ever get picketed themselves? By, perhaps, actual churches?

[#9 posted by dallas , August 7, 2008 1:21 PM]

What I can't figure out is why no one tried to pull him off of the poor passenger. If people could "flee", why couldn't they tackle? Ah, bystander apathy.

[#10 posted by Anonymous , August 7, 2008 1:38 PM]

I suspect by the time anyone noticed what was going on the victim was dead.

Anyway, I ride greyhound a couple times a year, and last year they decided to "change" my bus to an express rather than local. Meaning I had to transfer to another bus, problem is greyhound was currently fighting with the bus station they had a contract with, so my "5 minute wait" in the freezing cold turned into 35 minutes of frozen hell. If I had a knife, I would have cut someone's head off.

[#11 posted by jungleFish , August 7, 2008 2:50 PM]

Number one, this post seems pretty tongue-in-cheek and callous about this horrific incident. Are we so insensitized, so cavalier, that we can't treat something like this seriously?

Number two, @Dallas, my first reaction was the same as yours: why didn't they try to stop him instead of running away? But, unless we've been in a situation like this with the very real, very close, very personal risk of serious injury or death, I don't think any of us should judge any of them as "apathetic".

In such a frightening circumstance, your first animal instinct is to flee, then as you're able to get control of your panic you can figure out how to stop the guy. Even then it's probably not a good idea to try, unless you've had training in how to stop an attacker with a knife (watching it on TV doesn't count). Otherwise you're just making it easier for the killer to kill again.

[#12 posted by jungleFish , August 7, 2008 2:52 PM]

Oh, okay, my bad -- I just realized this post was about Greyhound's pulling of the ads, not the incident itself. My bad, I guess it's not as insensitive as I thought.

[#13 posted by Takuan , August 7, 2008 3:48 PM]

as I understand it, the killer suddenly drew a very large "rambo" knife and repeatedly plunged it into the victim's necks and chest. I am sure the poor boy expired immediately. How many bus travelers when confronted with a knife wielding maniac spattered with the blood of a total stranger would face that down?

[#14 posted by DiceCat , August 7, 2008 4:06 PM]

The other thing to consider (regarding the apparent lack of intervention) is the sheer violence coupled with the 'robot-like' calm of the killer. I think this would make it even harder to comprehend, as generally, we are used to seeing violence as a manifestation of rage.

For the other passengers — even those with previous exposure to strong violence — it would be it would be utterly surreal, like being trapped inside the worst horror film.

The idea of those sociopathic, pseudo-christian Phelps cult picketing McLean's funeral is abhorrent (but to be fair, consistent with their track-record).

[#15 posted by Anonymous , August 7, 2008 4:16 PM]

@DALLAS

so what would you do with a guy with a Rambo knife in the tight quarters of a bus?
short of having a gun , I don't know what good I could do in that situation with low risk of personal injury.

[#16 posted by Anonymous , August 7, 2008 5:23 PM]

I wonder if he had fava beans and a nice chianti with that?

[#17 posted by Takuan , August 7, 2008 6:11 PM]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=707624

[#18 posted by PukeDragon , March 4, 2009 2:56 PM]

And he's pleading insanity which could get him a whole 2 years in an institution. Isn't any murder insane. What kind of sane person would murder someone? The only way this guy could benefit society is to grind him up and use him as fertilyzer.