Bus assault pensioner, 67, starred in second YouTube altercation last August... when he was Tasered by police

By Mail Foreign Service
Updated: 12:00 EDT, 12 April 2010

The 67-year-old man captured in a YouTube video beating up a fellow bus passenger was involved in another altercation that became an internet hit last year.

Thomas Bruso was Tasered twice by police last August at an Oakland A's baseball game.

The 6ft 1ins, 20 stone pensioner - who calls himself 'Tom Slick,' 'Vietnam Tom' and 'Epic Beard Man' - was confronted by stadium staff when he brought alcohol into the stadium.

When Bruso refused to leave, Coliseum security asked Oakland police officers working at the game to eject him.

Three officers verbally tried several times to get Bruso to leave, but he refused, according to the Oakland Tribune.

The situation quickly escalated after Bruso made a rude gesture at one of the two officers.

They then placed a handcuff on Bruso's left wrist.

A third officer arrived with a Taser, stunning the man in the left shoulder blade while another officer was placing the other cuff on Bruso's right wrist.

The third officer applied the Taser on Bruso again, this time near the middle of his back, which caused Bruso to fall forward into an aisle.

He was charged with resisting arrest and taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

The latest altercation involving Bruso began when a younger black man began yelling at him as the pair sat across from one another on the bus.

Bruso was taken to the John George Psychiatric Pavilion for an evaluation after he struck the male passenger several times and continued to rant about the incident, Alameda County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said.

Scroll down for YouTube clip of baseball park battle

A video of the brawl captured by a college student, Iyanna Washington, showed the two men speaking to each from across the aisle near the centre or rear of the bus.

Within minutes, an argument broke out and quickly escalated.

Bruso incensed the man by asking: 'How much you charge me for a spit shine?'

The younger man then ordered Bruso away from him, to the front of the bus.

Bruso angrily stalked to the front, followed by the younger man who continued to yell at Bruso.

The exchange continued with the goading of other passengers until finally the younger man struck him.

Bruso stood up and returned the blows, beating the man until he fell to the floor with a bloody nose.

AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson said the younger man's nose was broken. No one was arrested.

'He (expletive) hit me. He expletive) hit me in the face,' the enraged Bruso bellowed after the driver escorted him off the bus.

'I'm 67 years old and I'm not getting killed,' he screamed.

The video has had around 700,000 hits on YouTube, although many more will have seen the row after several blogs picked it up.

The woman who filmed the fight has also been accused of stealing the older man's bag, although she denies this and has posted her own video on YouTube to refute the allegations.

Several spoof versions of the bus fight have now appeared online, including one where the 67-year-old has been turned into a character from the video game Mortal Kombat.

The event even has its own Wikipedia entry.