Bus Riders Thwart Hijacking in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY —  Passengers aboard a Greyhound bus overpowered a man who allegedly tried to take control and flip the vehicle after ranting about hijackings, authorities said Thursday.

No one was injured in Wednesday night’s incident and the driver was able to pull safely to the side of Interstate 80. There were 44 passengers aboard the bus bound from Portland, Ore., to Nashville.

The man and a female accomplice ran off the bus, flagged down a car and later fled to a truck stop, where they were arrested several hours later, Highway Patrol spokesman Doug McCleve said.

Troy Matzek, 34, and Becky Hyde, 25, of Wichita, Kan., were charged Thursday in federal court with carjacking and aiding and abetting. They face a possible maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. They were scheduled to appear today before U.S. Magistrate Samuel Alba.

Authorities said they believed the couple were not acting as part of a terrorist plot.

“This is probably a person who is mentally unstable,” McCleve said.

Matzek’s mother, Rose, said her son thought someone was after him. After talking to her son by phone following his arrest, she said he had been affected by the terrorist attacks and might have had an emotional breakdown on the bus.

“He called a couple of days ago, he wanted to come home,” she said. “He was very fearful. He was a little paranoid about what has happened.”

Bus driver Gene Savage told KUTV television that Matzek grabbed the steering wheel and said he was going to flip the bus.

The driver kicked Matzek away and several passengers wrestled with the man as Savage stopped the bus, McCleve said.

“People aren’t as tolerant about this kind of thing anymore,” said Paul Warner, the U.S. attorney for Utah.

Earlier this month, a Croatian man slashed the neck of a Greyhound bus driver in Tennessee, causing a crash that killed seven passengers.