Ohio Bus Driver's Claim That Bible Protected Body From Gunshot Wounds Is False, Police Say
An Ohio bus driver's claim that his Bible blocked two bullets from entering his chest in an assault back in February is "not accurate," Dayton police report.
Rickey Wagoner, a 49-year-old driver for Dayton's electric trolley buses, gained national media attention in February, when he claimed he was assaulted by three black teenagers in the early morning hours of his work shift in what he described as a possible gang-related attack.
Wagoner originally told police and media outlets that he was assaulted by three teenagers at around 5:20 a.m. on Feb. 24, when he exited his bus to determine why the vehicle had lost power. Wagoner then claimed that he was shot three times and stabbed once before wrestling the gun away from the assailants and stabbing one of them with a pen.
The bus driver gained national media attention because he claimed that a religious book he kept in the breast pocket of his shirt prevented two of the bullets from entering his chest. The book was titled The Message, a contemporary version of the New Testament.
While Wagoner previously attributed his faith and his book as the reasons for his survival, Dayton police are now saying that the bus driver's original story is "not accurate." After performing a series of ballistic tests on the religious book, police confirmed that it was impossible for a book of that thickness to stop two bullets from entering Wagoner's chest.
Police also determined that the stab wounds found on Wagoner were "hesitation wounds," rather than defensive wounds. Additionally, when the bus driver called 911, he did not sound winded, even though he claimed to have run 200 to 300 feet away from where he was allegedly attacked.
Mark Donaghy, executive director of the Dayton Regional Transportation Authority, said in a statement on the RTA website that his organization is "angry" at Wagoner's fabricated claims.
"After conducting a comprehensive investigation that has spanned nearly four months, the police department has concluded Mr. Wagoner fabricated his statements," Donaghy said. "All of us at RTA are angry at the thought that an employee would allegedly mislead the police, the public and us and use ugly racial stereotypes in doing so."
The RTA has reportedly put Wagoner on administrative leave after it learned of the investigation's conclusion, although Wagoner has yet to be charged with a crime.
The bus driver, who is reportedly $100,000 in debt for unpaid property taxes, declined to comment on the police investigation when a reporter with WHIO-TV visited his home on Wednesday.
