Metrobus Hijacker Had Smoked Synthetic Drugs: Prosecutors

The man accused of attacking a D.C. Metrobus driver and hijacking the bus before fatally hitting a gas station worker Tuesday morning tested positive for the synthetic drugs K2 and PCP, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Keith Loving, 30, of Northeast D.C., boarded the bus in the 3800 block of Jay Street in Northeast around 10:30 a.m. Video from a camera on the bus shows Loving wearing a ski mask that partially obscured his face, according to court documents.

When the bus arrived at its next stop, Loving got up and attacked the driver with needle-nose pliers, then drove the bus a short distance, causing several crashes along the way, police said.

He sideswiped a van carrying senior citizens, its driver told News4. According to court documents, Loving continued to drive recklessly and erratically, traveling against the flow of traffic as vehicles drove toward the bus.

Police said Loving veered over a curb into the parking lot of a gas station at the corner of Minnesota and Nannie Helen Burroughs avenues.

According to court documents, Loving drove the bus diagonally between two gas pumps before suddenly stopping. The bus ran over a gas station worker, identified later as 40-year-old Anthony Payne, who had been taking out the trash.

Payne can clearly be seen in bus surveillance video standing near a trash dumpster a short distance in front of the bus before he was struck, the documents said. Loving "propelled the bus forward and turned the bus directly towards [Payne]," according to the documents.

Payne was pinned under the front left side of the bus. Two witnesses who saw the bus hit Payne rushed to the scene and pulled him out. He was rushed to Prince George's County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Loving remained behind the wheel after the bus stopped, the documents said. Officers arrived and removed him from the bus as Loving struggled, resisting until police used pepper spray to subdue him, according to the documents.

Loving was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He appeared in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, where prosecutors said he tested positive for the drugs.

Officers also heard Loving tell hospital staff he had smoked K2 and PCP before the attack, court documents said.

Loving was also wanted on a probation violation warrant issued by D.C. Superior Court on April 25, court documents said.

He's being held without bond and his next court appearance is set for May 26.

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