The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Jan 23, 2014 9:59 PM 
 
 The last thing Susana Ordinola remembered hearing before a male passenger tried to wrest control of a Greyhound bus was the man screaming, “Everyone is going to die.” 
 
 No one died when a man authorities identified as Maquel Donyel Morris, 25, tried to take control of the Phoenix-bound bus Thursday morning as it sped through the dark along Interstate 10 near Tonopah, but three people suffered injuries so serious that they had to be flown to hospitals. The man might have gotten his death wish if passengers had not intervened to keep the bus from careening into oncoming traffic, according to Arizona Department of Public Safety investigators. 
 
 Ordinola, 48, of San Bernardino, Calif., was among 41 passengers on the bus Thursday morning, anticipating a quiet ride from Los Angeles to her final destination in El Paso. 
 
 Ordinola said Morris and his girlfriend were sitting a few rows behind her and had done something to catch the attention of the driver as the bus neared the Arizona-California border. The driver was overheard telling Morris to behave. 
 
 The trip was otherwise uneventful, Ordinola said, until about 1:45 a.m., when the bus neared Tonopah, about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix. That’s when authorities say Morris ran to the front of the bus screaming. He began hitting the driver and pulling on the steering wheel, authorities say. 
 
 A male passenger tried to stop Morris, but because the bus was swerving, he fell back, Ordinola said. Other passengers were able to take control of the bus, steering it toward the median, where it came to an abrupt stop, she said. 
 
 Ordinola said she remembers the bus going off the freeway and heading into the desert before she blacked out. 
 
 Some passengers initially thought the driver had fallen asleep when the interior of the bus turned chaotic, with passengers flying through the air. 
 
 “We thought we were going to turn over,” Ordinola said. “Everyone was screaming. It felt like a roller coaster. I saw people flying.” 
 
 Ordinola said she suffered minor injuries on her knees and ribs. 
 
 One of the passengers who helped subdue Morris was flown to a hospital with undisclosed injuries. The other seriously injured passengers suffered lower-body fractures and back injuries, according to DPS spokesman Carrick Cook. 
 
 After the bus came to rest in the median, Morris and his girlfriend fled into the desert, authorities say. They returned to the scene about 30 minutes later and Morris was taken into custody, Cook said. 
 
 When Morris and his girlfriend returned to the scene, passengers began screaming and throwing rocks at them until paramedics arrived. 
 
 People were screaming, “This is the guy,” to make it clear that Morris was the cause of the crash, Ordinola said. 
 
 A woman who drove to the scene to pick up her son, but did not want to be identified, said that after Morris was detained, Morris claimed passengers on the bus were trying to kill him. 
 
 Morris was arrested on suspicion of endangerment and assault charges and was taken to Maricopa Medical Center, where he was being held for a psychological evaluation. Investigators said he could face nearly 50 counts of endangerment and dozens of assault charges when he is booked into jail. 
 
 Investigators were able to provide few additional details about Morris, but court records from Mississippi indicate he was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault, along with his brother, for their roles in a 2010 home invasion that left a 91-year-old woman severely beaten. Morris was acquitted during a jury trial and his brother was convicted of the crime, according to the Marshall County, Miss., court clerk. 
 
 Greyhound sent two buses to Phoenix to take the remaining passengers to their final destinations. ||||| PHOENIX (AP) — A passenger attacked the driver of a Greyhound bus early Thursday as it traveled down an Arizona highway, causing the bus to swerve and throw passengers from their seats before it went off the road, injuring 24 people, authorities said. 
 
 The Dallas-bound bus was heading east from Los Angeles on Interstate 10 when it wrecked shortly before 2 a.m. near the community of Tonopah, about 50 miles west of Phoenix. 
 
 One of the passengers "basically went berserk in the bus and grabbed control of vehicle," Harquahala Fire District Chief Dan Caudle told KPHO-TV. 
 
 The bus crossed the highway median but came to a stop before entering westbound traffic when other passengers restrained the 25-year-old California man, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said. 
 
 "The passengers descended on him," DPS spokesman Bart Graves told The Associated Press. 
 
 The bus remained upright, and none of the 24 people taken to hospitals had life-threatening injuries, the agency said. 
 
 The driver "did a good job of maintaining control" before the bus came to a stop in the median, where there were numerous rocks and bushes, Caudle told the station. 
 
 The Department of Public Safety identified the attacker as Maquel Donyel Morris, of Los Angeles 
 
 Susana Ordinola, 48, of San Bernardino, Calif., said she heard other passengers complain to the driver about Morris during a stop in Blythe, Calif. She then saw the driver talk to him. 
 
 After the bus entered Arizona, the man suddenly ran toward the driver, Ordinola said. "He screamed, 'Everybody's going to die.'" 
 
 Ordinola said she was sitting right behind the driver and saw Morris grab the steering wheel. The bus then started swerving. 
 
 She said people were thrown from their seats. When the bus came to a stop, she saw people bleeding and screaming in pain. 
 
 "Everybody is jumping and flying and screaming," Ordinola said while waiting for a bus back to California. 
 
 Graves said the attacker reportedly was hallucinating and indicated he wanted to get off the bus. The man was taken to a hospital for a drug-induced condition, Graves said. 
 
 The passengers' injuries included a broken sternum suffered by one person who helped restrain the attacker, said Officer Carrick Cook, another DPS spokesman. 
 
 Morris and a female companion got off the bus when it stopped after the attack, and they ran off into the desert, the DPS said. They returned about 30 minutes later. 
 
 When other passengers spotted the Morris returning, they started cursing at him and yelling "That's the guy," Ordinola said. Some threw rocks at him. 
 
 According to Ordinola, Morris' companion tried to shield him before paramedics stepped in to stop people from going after Morris. 
 
 Morris was arrested at the scene and transported to a hospital. He will be booked into jail on suspicion of numerous counts of endangerment, assault and aggravated assault, the DPS said. Morris does not yet have an attorney. 
 
 Greyhound spokeswoman Alexandra Pedrini said the bus was carrying 41 passengers, plus the driver. 
 
 A relief bus was sent to the accident scene to take the nearly 20 uninjured passengers to Phoenix so they could continue to their final destinations, she said. 
 
 Ordinola, who had pain in her knees and a rib, was treated at a Phoenix hospital. 
 
 "I just want to go home," she said. ||||| Story highlights A passenger attacked a driver on moving bus on an Arizona interstate 
 
 24 people were injured as the bus bounced on the median, police say 
 
 Passengers helped subdue attacker and narrowly avoided a collision with other vehicles 
 
 The alleged attacker fled but later returned and was arrested 
 
 A Greyhound passenger attacked the driver on a moving bus early Thursday in Arizona, police said, sending the vehicle on a jostling ride that injured 24 people. But quick-acting passengers helped prevent what could have been a gruesome outcome, authorities said. 
 
 The assailant approached the driver, hit him and tried to take control of the wheel as the bus headed east on Interstate 10 around 1:45 a.m. roughly 50 miles west of Phoenix, police said. That sent the vehicle bouncing across an uneven median, Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook said. 
 
 Other passengers jumped to their feet, subdued the attacker and helped the driver stop the bus in the median, just seconds before it would have barreled head-on into other vehicles, police said. 
 
 "This thing traveled about 300 feet in the median, bouncing up and down, and that's where the injuries occurred," Cook said. " ... I think the officer (at the scene) said it was about 6 feet from going into oncoming traffic." 
 
 Police said they believe the attacker was Maquel Donyel Morris, 25. He fled into the desert, but returned 30 minutes later and was arrested, Cook said. 
 
 It wasn't immediately clear what led to the attack, Cook said. 
 
 Among the injured, one suffered fractures to the lower body, and one sustained a back injury, Cook said. At least 21 were taken to hospitals, he said. 
 
 No immediate public statement was made on Morris' behalf.
– A bizarre incident on a Greyhound bus in Arizona resulted in injuries to more than 20 people, but police say quick-thinking passengers prevented it from being much, much worse. A 25-year-old man on the bus is accused of attacking the driver just before 2am as they traveled on I-10 near Phoenix, reports CNN. As the two men struggled for control of the wheel, the bus began swerving across the median toward oncoming traffic, say police. At that point, other passengers jumped in and subdued the attacker, reports the Arizona Republic. "This thing traveled about 300 feet in the median, bouncing up and down, and that's where the injuries occurred," says a state safety official. "I think the officer (at the scene) said it was about 6 feet from going into oncoming traffic." Maquel Donyel Morris faces charges of endangerment, assault, and aggravated assault, reports AP. He fled into the desert when the bus stopped but returned about 30 minutes later and was arrested. Passengers say he seemed to be hallucinating on the bus and at one point screamed, "Everybody's going to die!" None of the passenger injuries are life-threatening.