
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 9, 1990                   TAG: 9004090191
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DRIVER CHARGED WITH CARRYING WEAPON

A replacement driver for Greyhound Bus Lines was charged Sunday with carrying a dangerous weapon after he brandished a rifle during a confrontation with striking bus workers, officials said.

Charles E. King, 45, had just returned to the Washington terminal Saturday evening after a trip and was leaving at about midnight to go home when he discovered that his personal vehicle had been vandalized, George Gravley, a company spokesman said from his Dallas headquarters.

Witnesses said King retrieved the weapon from under the front seat of the vehicle and began threatening them with it. But a copy of the police report obtained from Gravely states that King, a Clinton, Md., resident, held the unloaded weapon at port arms, or diagonally across his chest.

Keith Bullock, 31, said he had just arrived at the bus terminal to begin picketing when the confrontation began.

An off-duty district police officer who also works as a security guard at the bus terminal heard the commotion and came to investigate, Bullock said.

"The police officer identified himself and ordered him [King] to drop the weapon," Bullock said. "The officer repeated the command two more times. The guy looked like he was going to use the butt of the weapon and hit me when the officer said it again and he [King] handed it over."

by CNB