Metro Police say a woman has been taken into custody after she allegedly assaulted a WMATA bus driver.
Police responded to an assault at 34th Street and Benning Road NE at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday.
A female passenger assaulted the driver when she boarded the X2 bus at Gallery Place and then again as she exited at Benning Road, police said.
The driver in turn struck the woman in the face, witnesses said.
"I'd never hit a woman in my life, but when you have a woman punching you in the face constantly, you gotta defend yourself," bus rider Anthony Hall said.
However, a friend of the woman who was with her during the incident said the driver looked at her inappropriately.
"She said something to him when we got off the bus; he said something to her; when I turned back around he was punching her face," the friend said.
"He hit my daughter," the woman's father said. "Her face busted open, bleeding."
The woman was hospitalized as a precautionary measure and charged with assault. The entire incident was recorded on surveillance cameras.
Stay with NBCWashington.com and News4 for more on this developing story.