OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Police have closed the investigation phase of the June 14 attack on a municipal bus driver with the third suspect indicted by a Worcester County grand jury now in custody and awaiting extradition in Pennsylvania.
The last of the three suspects indicted in the June 14 attack on the Ocean City bus driver, identified as Jaleel Henderson, 18, of York, Pa., was apprehended last week in in Pennsylvania and was taken into custody. Another suspect, Marquez Ellis, 19, also of York, was arrested earlier this month by Ocean City Police detective with the assistance of the York County U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force.
A third suspect, Josiah Mincer III, also of York, was arrested the day of the attack on the bus driver after a wild foot chase through the downtown area. Mincer was charge initially with a misdemeanor and released the following day after there was insufficient evidence at the time to charge him with felony armed robbery and assault.
In July, a Worcester County grand jury indicted each of the three suspects on multiple counts including armed robbery, robbery and assault. Henderson and Ellis are being held in Pennsylvania awaiting extradition to Worcester County. Mincer was apprehended earlier this summer and has already been extradited to Maryland. As a result, he is further ahead of the other two suspects in the prosecution phase and has a trial date set for November.
Around 1 a.m. on June 14, the three suspects allegedly got into a verbal altercation with a municipal bus driver after passengers were picked up along Baltimore Ave. near Worcester Street. According to sources, the dispute began when the suspects did not have exact change and the bus driver informed them they could not ride without the exact $3 fare per passenger.
A short time later, Ocean City Communications informed OCPD officers in the area an assault had occurred on a municipal bus. OCPD officer arrived on the scene and observed three suspects believed to be Ellis, Mincer and Henderson running from the bus. Numerous witnesses and bystanders pointed at the three suspects running from the scene, according to police reports.
Ocean City EMS arrived on the scene and began treatment on the injured bus driver, who had cuts on his face and head and a large amount of bleeding. The responding officer reported the injuries sustained by the bus driver were the results of one of the suspects striking the victim with an unidentified weapon. According to police reports, the driver as very disoriented and had to be taken by ambulance to AGH and at one point had trouble breathing. The driver was released from the hospital later the following morning.
Meanwhile, the responding OCPD officers observed one of the suspects, later identified as Ellis running through the property of the Atlantic Hotel. Ellis reportedly ran through a narrow passageway and through the property pursued by OCPD officers, who on several occasions ordered him to stop and go to the ground. Ellis failed to comply and sprinted west through the Somerset Street Plaza. The officer observed 40-60 people in and around the Somerset Street Plaza stop and most in the area stopped and remained motionless and continued to point at the suspect.
OCPD officers at one point observed the two other suspects, presumably Mincer and Henderson, running with Ellis before splitting up and going in different directions. Ellis continued to run north on Baltimore Ave. and was quickly apprehended.