Votran bus driver stops attempted sex assault in Ponce Inlet

555 Ponce Inlet, FL - A Votran driver stopped a sexual assault attempt on a bus in Ponce Inlet, wrestling an armed man away from a passenger after he had pulled down his pants and underwear, reports state. Just before 7 p.m. Friday on South Atlantic Avenue, the driver of the bus tackled Michael Lemuel Speaks, 34, of Deltona after police said Speaks began harassing and touching a woman on the bus, an arrest report states. Witnesses told police Speaks began touching the unidentified woman on the thigh, then ankle, and then pulled down his pants and exposed himself to her, but the driver, 26-year-old Paul Okumu of Port Orange, stepped in to break it up. Speaks grabbed the bus driver's throat, according to the report, and the two men fell into the side window of the bus, breaking the glass. When officers arrived they found Speaks armed with a sheathed knife with a 5-inch blade and eight condoms were in the suspect's pockets. "The Votran bus driver did a great job," said Ponce Inlet Police Chief Frank Fabrizio, heralding the driver's actions and adding that the suspect was "real uncooperative," echoing the report that said Speaks threatened the officers, spat at them and tried to kick out the window of a patrol car. Speaks is charged with attempted sexual battery, carrying a concealed weapon by convicted felon, carrying a concealed weapon in commission of a second degree felony, three counts of battery with an aggravated battery conviction, disorderly intoxication, resisting an officer without violence, and making three threats of death or serious bodily harm to law enforcement officer. He was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on $12,000 bail and as of Monday afternoon, remained in custody. Court records show Speaks has been booked into the jail at least 35 times since 2007. Fabrizio said Speaks is just one example of why they call it a "criminal justice system" instead of a "victims justice system." "He's a drain on society," the chief said of Speaks. "Hopefully they put him away."

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