photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Richard Wayne Page in 2020

Lawrence police on Saturday arrested a bus passenger after he allegedly attacked the driver and punched out a window.

The incident occurred around 3 p.m. at 11th and New Hampshire streets. Police were alerted by another passenger who said the man was acting erratically.

The driver reportedly had asked the passenger to roll up the window, but the passenger refused and began disrupting other passengers. The driver then pulled over and told the passenger to get off the bus.

The passenger then shoved the driver, ripped the driver’s glasses off his face and punched out the window, according to a news release from police.

The driver did not require medical treatment, police said.

The Douglas County Jail booking log shows that Richard Wayne Page, 49, of the Lawrence Community Shelter, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of battery and criminal damage to property.

Court records indicate that Page has multiple prior convictions and has a criminal history score of “A,” the highest — or worst — possible under the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines. Most recently, Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced him on Aug. 15 to probation for felony possession of methamphetamine — a downward departure from a presumptive prison guideline. That crime was committed while he was on parole for criminal threat. He also has convictions in Douglas County for aggravated battery in 2010, and criminal restraint and aggravated battery in 2017, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The incident is the second involving a city bus in recent weeks. In September, a 26-year-old woman was charged with robbery and other crimes after she allegedly stole a bus from Central Station, 2315 Bob Billings Parkway, and drove it across town, with police in pursuit.