On this day, Oct. 3, in 2001, a Greyhound bus passenger slashed the throat of the driver, causing a wreck in Tennessee that left seven people dead and more than 30 others injured.
The Chicago-to-Orlando, Fla., bus was cruising on Interstate 24, about 50 miles southeast of Nashville, at about 4 a.m., when Damir Igric walked up to the front of the vehicle, pulled out a box cutter and attacked 53-year-old Garfield Sands. Igric grabbed the steering wheel and tried to turn the bus into oncoming traffic.
There was a short struggle, and the Greyhound veered off the road and flipped upside down.
Sands survived. The attacker was killed and later identified as a 29-year-old Croatian with a history of mental illness.
Coming just several weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Greyhound buses temporarily shut down services until it was determined the incident was not connected to terrorism.
– Scott McCabe
