Fresno Man Arrested for Threatening Bus Riders With Knife, Fake Badge

Christopher Allan Bull pulled a knife and a fake police badge on a public bus, threatened to kill a rider, and then punched a Fresno police officer in the face when officers arrived to arrest him. Bull, 36, was taken into custody Tuesday, March 17, after what police described as a confrontation that began with him harassing minors and escalated into a multi-charge felony arrest at Shaw and Blackstone avenues.

Officers were dispatched to that intersection following reports of a man brandishing a knife. When they arrived, they located a suspect matching the description provided by a reporting party who told police Bull had been bothering minors on the bus.

The victim gave officers a direct account of what happened when they confronted Bull: he pulled both the knife and a badge, threatened to kill them, and swung the knife several times. The badge, according to police, was fake.

Getting Bull into custody proved dangerous. Officers ordered him to the ground, but while being detained he reached into his pockets, alarming officers who had not yet located the knife. He then spat at officers and struck one in the face, reportedly telling them, "I will f—ing fight you."

Bull was booked on multiple charges: felony assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor battery, and impersonating a peace officer. The condition of the officer who was punched was not immediately released, and it remains unclear from the initial police account whether the knife and fake badge were recovered and entered into evidence.

Impersonating a peace officer in California carries its own distinct legal weight, separate from the assault charges, and prosecutors will likely scrutinize how Bull used the fake badge to intimidate both the minors and the victim before officers arrived. No arraignment date has been publicly confirmed.