MIAMI – A gruesome surveillance video shows a courageous public transportation driver intervened during a fight between two trolley riders last month in Miami.
The violent Feb. 4 video shows Lamont Collins walking from the back of the trolley to stand in the walkway and by the front door for a friendly talk with the driver, police said.
6 p.m. report:
At about 2:39 p.m., Adolf “Nash” Bruce also stood up and walked from the back of the trolley to the front. He stopped to wait near the front door where Collins was.
Collins, 46, a black-clad former Camillus House resident, faced Bruce, 49, who worked at the Amara at Paraiso restaurant, and said, “What are you doing, man?”
“Back up away from me!” and “Back off!”
The video shows Collins taking an aggressive stance and Bruce standing his ground while grabbing a holding pole handle with his right hand during an argument.
As Collins raised his voice and moved closer to Bruce, he frightened a woman who was sitting nearby into moving away from the aisle.
The video shows Bruce facing Collins and saying, “What’s wrong with you man?” and “I am waiting to get off.”
Collins shouted for about a minute, pulled out a knife with his right hand, and held it up to continue to threaten Bruce, police said.
The video shows the brave driver stopped the trolley along Biscayne Boulevard, in the Edgewater neighborhood, and stood up at about 2:40 p.m., police said.
The driver talked to Collins, referring to him as “homeboy.” Collins put the knife in his pocket, and said, “I rather die than go to jail.”
The driver sat back down. His intervention only kept Collins away from continuing to taunt Bruce briefly. The argument escalated, and the driver stood back up at about 2:41 p.m.
As neither of the men stepped away, the driver sat back down and he was on the phone. The video shows Collins reaching back into his sweatshirt’s front pocket.
The video shows Bruce moved his hands nervously and jumped a couple of times before Collins’s shouting and threats turned into a fight at about 2:42 p.m.
The video shows Collins quickly pulled out the knife again and started swinging it at Bruce, who moved to the back of the trolley while passengers shouted in panic.
The video shows the driver holding his phone while Collins stabbed Bruce over and over until he fell onto the front seat behind the driver and collapsed on the walkway in front of the steps to the trolley’s door.
The video shows Collins jump out of the trolley and run away. Bruce, who was still carrying his backpack, somehow found the strength to stand up and walk out of the trolley too. His blood stretched wide across the aisle.
The video shows several women in tears as passengers and the driver were forced to walk over blood to get out of the trolley. A few used the emergency exit back window at about 2:45 p.m. after police officers arrived.
Miami-Dade County correctional deputies booked Collins at 3:45 p.m., on Feb. 5, and he remained behind bars without bond on Thursday at the Metrowest Detention Center near Doral.
Bruce’s grieving friends later described him as a hard-working team player who had overcome hardship and enjoyed basketball and traveling the country. A GoFundMe user raised over $13,000 to cover funeral costs.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Laura Cruz was presiding over the second-degree murder case. Collins’s arraignment was Feb. 25 and his next hearings are at about 9:30 a.m., on April 24 and May 5.