Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Bus Driver Attacked on Freeway : Violence: He grapples with a knife-wielding passenger while trying to control the swerving vehicle near Gorman. Suspect is in custody.

In an incident reminiscent of the movie “Speed,” a bus driver had to control his swerving vehicle on the Golden State Freeway as he grappled with a knife-wielding passenger, authorities said Friday.

Benjamin Espinosa, 31, of Whittier was driving a 40-foot touring coach from Bakersfield to Pasadena Thursday when a passenger walked up to Espinosa and pressed a five-inch-long razor knife against his throat, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

“You’re a dead man,” the passenger allegedly told Espinosa, deputies said.

Espinosa grabbed the man’s hand and began struggling with him, causing the bus to swerve as it sped southbound along the Golden State Freeway. Another passenger, James Hole, 39, of Pasadena helped wrestle the assailant away from the driver, deputies reported.

Espinosa regained control of the bus, pulled over at a brake-inspection site in Gorman and radioed for assistance.

The suspect, identified as 63-year-old Edward Macias of La Puente, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He is in custody at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Authorities are unsure what triggered the attack, which occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, a mile north of Gorman. Macias and Hole were the only riders on the bus, and no one was injured in the incident.

The bus route between Bakersfield and Pasadena is a connector service that Amtrak provides for train riders. Antelope Valley Bus Inc. in Lancaster operates the service under contract with Amtrak.

Bus-company officials said they were surprised by the incident, especially because it occurred on a long-distance route rather than on a local route in a major city.

“It’s very unusual,” said Roy McDaniel, safety director for the Antelope Valley bus company. “We normally don’t have this sort of thing happen, thank God.”

Bus company officials will conduct an investigation of the incident. Espinosa reported to them that Macias had been arguing with Hole earlier, and may have been intoxicated, McDaniel said.

Espinosa, who declined to be interviewed, was back on duty Friday.