Mechanic Michael Walker, who fatally stabbed a man during a fight on an RTD bus in May, won't face criminal charges after an Arapahoe County prosecutor determined he acted in self-defense.

Walker, 53, was a regular on the route. He argued with Aaron Bishop and Robert Rodgers after they ignored the bus driver's instructions to close windows they'd opened, according to a report posted on the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office website.

Video shows Bishop and Rodgers approaching Walker aggressively and Walker drawing a 2.5-inch penknife that he kept at his side until Bishop attacked, the report states. In the brawl that followed, Walker was shoved into a pole so hard that it bent, and he then stumbled backward into a windshield, cracking it and popping it from its frame. He stabbed at Bishop twice, puncturing his heart and liver, the report states.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Brian Sugioka reviewed video of the altercation and statements made by witnesses.

Sugioka rejected charges of second-degree murder, reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, felony menacing and lesser charges like endangering public transportation in the May 3 death.

Sugioka's report notes Bishop's blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit to drive and that he'd been fired from his restaurant job for threatening customers and colleagues.

Rodgers told detectives that Walker threatened to stab him and Bishop before the fight began near East Smoky Hill Road, just east of South Chambers Road.


No other witness recollections support that account or many of the other statements Rodgers made about the fight.