An Urbandale man turned himself in to the Department of Public Safety this weekend after his picture showed up on several television stations and in a newspaper for allegedly assaulting a CyRide bus driver earlier this month.

Matthew Thomas Warner, 23, was charged with serious assault about 8 a.m. Friday, said Aaron DeLashmutt, DPS investigative officer. Warner was taken to the Story County Jail, where he was later released.

“Yes, I turned myself in,” Warner said Sunday afternoon but declined to comment further.

CyRide buses are equipped with video cameras, which is where the photo of the assailant came from. The CyRide driver assaulted that evening, Brandon Whalen, said he is “jumping for joy” because Warner turned himself in to the police.

“It will be nice to not have to pay any more attention to the incident than I already have,” said Whalen, junior in graphic design.

Whalen reported that a passenger on his bus struck Whalen in the shoulder and hit him in the jaw five times on Oct. 9.

Whalen was driving the Moonlight Express, a late-night weekend transportation system free for students, in the area of South Fourth Street and Elwood Drive. He was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center by CyRide officials that night but later was released.

“It was so out of the blue,” Whalen said. “It was more shocking at first, and then I got mad later.”

Whalen said he wanted the suspect to feel the same fear Whalen had felt the night of the incident. He said he hoped the media coverage made the suspect uncomfortable.

“His face was all over the news; I hope he felt scared to death,” Whalen said. “I wanted him to get a taste of how I felt.”

Whalen said he is considering pressing charges against Warner if CyRide does not.

DeLashmutt said DPS received an anonymous tip as a result of the media coverage. The investigation was still underway when Warner turned himself in, he said.

“I knew who he was and where he was before he turned himself in,” DeLashmutt said. “We’re very thankful for the help from the community and the media.”

Loras Jaeger, director of DPS, said the incident was a terrible experience for an ISU student to go through.

“Because this person was a student earning money to put himself through school only amplifies this unfortunate incident,” he said.

Whalen has continued to drive the Moonlight Express since the incident. He said he was a little worried on the day of his return but is now “back into routine.”

“I have a dangerous job anyway,” he said. “There is just as much possibility I will get into a car wreck as this happening again.”