A CyRide bus driver was assaulted over the weekend by a group of men riding the Moonlight Express, a late-night weekend transportation system for students.

Brandon Whalen, junior in graphic design, was struck in the shoulder and was hit five times in the jaw by a white male riding his bus, commonly known as the “drunk bus,” to South Kellogg Avenue early Saturday morning. Whalen was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center by CyRide personnel.

“I didn’t think I needed to go, but CyRide decided I needed to,” he said. “It hurt. My jaw still hurts today, and I have a goose egg above my ear that hurts. It’s more bruising than anything else.”

The attacker struck Whalen after he and his friends were ordered off the bus at Fourth Street and Elwood Drive.

“They were dinging the bell a whole bunch,” Whalen said Sunday afternoon. “Normally I don’t mind, but they were doing this excessively.”

Whalen, who has been driving the Moonlight Express since the beginning of the semester, said he asked the men to stop ringing the bell, but they would not listen.

“They were whispering, and I could basically see that they were talking about doing it again,” he said. The final straw, he said, was when one of the men opened “what sounded like a can of beer on the bus.”

“We’re not supposed to have people have beer on the bus – it’s illegal. I could lose my license for it,” he said. “I know that if I would have asked them to put it away, they wouldn’t have. That’s the kind of mood they were in, so I made everyone get off.”

Whalen said the attacker was with two friends; one male made friends with the group while on the bus and another student, Ryan Kolbo, senior in finance, was riding alone.

“I thought that was the end of it. Then [one of the guys] hit me in the face by my right ear – that was real cute. I was pretty thrilled about that one,” he said.

The other men on the bus asked the attacker to stop. He did and fled the scene. His friends followed behind; Kolbo stayed until the Department of Public Safety arrived.

“It all happened pretty quick,” Kolbo said Sunday. “I waited with [Whalen] until DPS showed up, and I helped give a description.”

Whalen said he is thankful to Kolbo for helping him, but Kolbo said he just did what came naturally.

“I helped out; I didn’t think about it,” he said. “I didn’t really do anything. I probably could have if I knew it was going to happen.”

Loras Jaeger, director of DPS, said this type of situation doesn’t occur on campus very often.

“We haven’t had problems on campus, but there have been some problems in the community with rowdy behavior,” he said.

Jaeger said the attacker is a college-aged male with black hair, sideburns and bushy eyebrows. Whalen added the attacker was wearing a long-sleeved green T-shirt and jeans and was about average height with a medium build.

The man was caught on videotape since all of the Moonlight Express buses are equipped with cameras.

Whalen said he may press charges if the man is found.

“I’m doing everyone a favor by being out there, and I don’t think I should have to suffer for it,” he said. “There are some really cool people that ride, and then there are people who act like I’m their servant. I’m not getting paid to baby sit them – I’m doing them a favor.”

If anyone has any information on this person, contact DPS at 294-4428.