Friday night the Dufferin Subway Station in Toronto was the scene of what could have been the murder of three teens. A middle aged man pushed three teens into the path of an oncoming Toronto subway train.
Adenir DeOliveira appeared in a Toronto court room on Saturday. He is accused of shoving three teens into the path of a train at the station. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for the 47-year-old.
It appears that the attack was unprovoked. Two of the teens fell onto the tracks after being pushed. One of the boys escaped injury but the other was partially struck by the train.
Jacob Greenspon, son of Edward Greenspon editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail was taken to Sick Kids Hospital after his foot was run over. Jacob suffered some minor internal injuries and had to have surgery on his foot. He will remain in hospital for a few days for observation.
Incredibly neither boy touched the electrified bar.
The driver of the train hit the brakes when he saw the two teens on the tracks. Jacob's friend rolled out of the way of the train pulling him back as the train sreeched to a stop.
The Globe and Mail reports:
"It's an incredible trauma to suffer to be pushed in front of a train like that, and we're extremely grateful they were not killed," TTC spokesman Brad Ross said.. "I can't imagine what they must be going through."
The three teens that were not pushed into the path of the train chased DeOliveira when he tried to flee. A TTC collector was shoved by the escaping man as he ran outside. The collector caught up to him and with the help of another witness tackled the suspect, holding him until police arrived.
DeOliveira is also facing charges for assault on the TTC collector and the Good Samaritan.
The three teens ran to the platforms as emergency crews arrived. One pulled a lever to kill power to the train while the other two talked to their friends below them.
"They are not life-threatening injuries," Mr. Greenspon said, adding media reports that said his son had lost his toes are not accurate.
Mr. Greenspon said his son is just trying to figure out why this happened. "Jacob was bewildered that anyone could just come and push kids onto a train track. He really wanted to understand why.
"And I want to know if there were cracks in the system that led to this. All of us need to be concerned with the public safety aspect of this. I have questions about that which I hope will be answered as the investigation continues."
