A NYC public transportation bus driver tried to kill his wife in front of his children.
On Tuesday, December 27, an NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bus driver admitted that he intentionally hit his wife with his own car and then stabbed her multiple times in front of his children. He called the police and turned himself in at the scene, telling police that he might have killed his wife.
The bus driver, Stephen Giraldo, 36, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment, assault, endangering a child’s life, and criminal possession of a weapon.
Giraldo, a 10-year veteran of the MTA, was seen in court holding his head down as he heard the charges in a Queens Criminal Court. The prosecutor described the crime, and told the judge that Giraldo had his three kids in the car in the early morning attack where he knocked down their mother with his car and almost killed her.
The oldest son, Stephen, 11, was a passenger in the front seat of Giraldo’s car, and just before hitting his wife, Giraldo warned the kids to make sure their seatbelts were fastened.
Giraldo had driven to the home of his estranged wife, Sophia Giraldo, 41, in Flushing, Queens. He called his wife, and told her to come down and meet him and the kids at the front of the house. When the unsuspecting woman approached the vehicle, Giraldo sped it up and hit her, with an impact that was brutal and tossed her over a fence, according to Assistant District Attorney Audra Beerman.
Investigators have footage from a surveillance camera which shows the entire incident. It displays the suspect driving his white Ford Explorer at around 5 am on December 27 with all three of his children inside.
After hitting his wife, Giraldo’s car hit a wrought iron fence and his car flipped over. Giraldo crawled out of the car using the passenger window, went to where his wife was, and stabbed her under her breast. He threw the knife away at the side of the house, and police found it later.
According to officers at the scene, Giraldo called 911 immediately and told them he might have killed his wife. He stayed at the crime scene until the first responders arrived and was arrested.
Paramedics took Mrs. Giraldo to New York Presbyterian Hospital for treatment for severe neurological damage, a punctured liver, and broken bones in her leg.
The victim works as a life coach and has said she is a survivor of domestic abuse. Just days before the attack by her husband, she spoke on a podcast about being in an abusive marriage.
Family and friends of the victim are taking care of the kids, aged eleven, nine, and six, who were fortunately not seriously injured physically.
Giraldo remains in custody on suicide watch. He faces up to 25 years in prison for his crimes. Although his attorney requested that he be released on bail, the judge refused.
The MTA said that Giraldo will remain suspended without pay at least until his trial is over. His next court appearance is on January 12, 2023.
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