More details on an incident that saw an Edmonton Transit Service bus driver injured Friday came to light.
At about 2 p.m. Friday, a bus driver was injured during an incident on a bus in the Castledowns area.
“We believe there was a dispute regarding an expired transfer and that was the basis around the alleged assault,” Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Cheryl Sheppard said.
The head of the union representing ETS workers, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, said the alleged assailant, a passenger, broke a partition near the driver, and used the piece as a weapon.
“He got on the bus and he broke the door of the driver’s compartment, and he, it brok in half and there was a jagged edge and he hit him with that across the face,” Mark Tetterington said.
Tetterington said the driver required 10 to 15 stitches, and he was also punched and bitten in the incident. This level of violence against drivers is rare, Tetterington said, but assaults happen regularly. “I want to say three or four times a month, or more, where an operator is spit on, and I call that assault,” Tetterington said.
Transit officials declined an interview, but said there was surveillance video – video of the assault had been passed on to police.
“It’s very helpful that transit does have surveillance footage that we’re able to look at, of course that helps us progress the investigation a lot further, a lot quicker,” Sheppard said.
Tetterington said the driver was shaken by the incident, and is taking a few days off.
The city is currently reviewing workplace safety, and Tetterington hopes it will help prevent assaults such as this one in the future.
“We can always do more, but the city is being proactive, they’re trying to nip these situations in the bud,” Tetterington said.