Dispute over transfer sparked alleged assault

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This article was published 11/02/2016 (2995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 17-year-old Winnipegger is dumbfounded after her late request for a bus transfer earned her a punch in the face from the Winnipeg Transit driver on Wednesday.

Winnipeg police confirmed Thursday an altercation on a city bus resulted in charges of assault and public mischief against the 51-year-old driver. She was released from custody on a promise to appear in court.

It is believed surveillance footage from the bus was key to the investigation. 

Speaking with the Free Press on Friday, Caley Fawcett said her nine-month-old son had started crying as they boarded the bus, and she forgot to ask for a transfer. She calmed the baby down, left him in the stroller with her cousin, then approached the driver for a transfer. Fawcett estimates four or five bus stops had passed.

She said the driver refused the transfer, saying it was against company policy because too much time had passed, and an argument ensued.

“I explained (the transfer) was my only way to get back. She said, ‘That’s not my problem,’” Fawcett related.

“I said, ‘Any other bus driver would have given me a transfer.’ She said, ‘I’m not like any other bus driver.’”

Fawcett had caught the bus at the corner of Tecumseh Street and William Avenue. She was going to Polo Park to get a card to activate her cellphone.

Fawcett said she just stood there for awhile, not knowing what to do. The bus driver asked why she was standing there. Fawcett cussed her before sitting down.

The bus driver then pulled over at the next stop, came to the back and accused Fawcett of verbally assaulting her.

The driver, according to Fawcett, said she had been driving buses for 25 years and never been “verbally assaulted” before.

At that point Fawcett, who is Filipino, suggested the white female bus driver might be “racist.”

Fawcett said the bus driver started swearing at her, repeatedly using the F-word.

Fawcett finally decided to get off the bus. But as she was leaving, the driver made another comment. “She said, ‘I feel f-ing sorry for your son.’ I turned around and said, ‘Why do you feel sorry for my son?’ Then she swung at me. She just punched me in the face.’”

Fawcett said a man on the bus tried to intervene, saying the bus driver had no right to hit Fawcett.

Fawcett said she reacted by grabbing at the driver’s face, knocking off her glasses. “She kept saying, ‘Where are my glasses! Where are my glasses!’ So I picked them up and handed them to her.”

Fawcett said when she tried to get off a second time, the driver punched her in the back of the head. That was when Fawcett turned and landed a right fist on the driver’s nose, making her nose bleed.

Fawcett phoned 311 to report the incident, and the driver phoned 911.

“Never in my life did I think something like this would ever happen,” said Fawcett.

Officers met with the driver who told them she had been involved in a verbal disagreement with a female passenger. The driver said the argument escalated and she was assaulted by the female passenger. Police also interviewed Fawcett, who told investigators the physical altercation had been started by the transit driver and she struck back in self-defence.

Members of the Winnipeg Police Service’s West District Crime Unit continued with the investigation, ultimately charging the driver.

“I believe this incident is unique in nature,” said WPS spokesman Const. Eric Hofley. “Fortunately, Transit has equipped their buses with both video and audio equipment that is there to protect not only employees but the general public as well.”

On Thursday, John Callahan, the Amalgamated Transit Union president, said he did not have any more information on the incident and could not comment.

“As far as I know, in talks with transit, it’s an ongoing police investigation and I haven’t been briefed on anything,” Callahan said.

Callahan said it is unusual to hear of a driver allegedly assaulting a passenger.

“I don’t recall anything (like this) in my time but I’ve only been in office here two years. But even beyond that, it’s not the norm, that’s for sure,” Callahan said.

 

— With files by Ashley Prest

 

bill.redekop@freepress.mb