The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday at a Winnipeg bus stop. The video shows a passenger spitting at the bus driver and quickly leaving the bus. The driver runs after him and both men at least try to exchange punches.
The Winnipeg Sun reports Const. Rob Carver, a spokesman for the Winnipeg Police Service, as saying a fare dispute led to the incident. The passenger opened the door to the driver’s enclosure and spit at the driver. The driver opened the front door of the bus to give himself more room.
Another transit driver and two passengers were able to detain the aggressive passenger until police arrived. The passenger, identified as Matthieu Joseph Fortier, 29, faces one count of assault. Police did not lay any charges against the transit driver.
Jeri Stern, a passenger on the bus, took out his cellphone and began recording after the fare dispute began and Fortier became aggressive. Stern told Global News he wanted to record what was happening but never thought it would escalate to the point it did. Stern said he has friends who drive buses and understands the stress they are under from some passengers.
Shortly after the two went outside the bus, Stern stopped recording and called police.
Although the bus driver was not criminally charged, Winnipeg Transit is reviewing both the cellphone video and surveillance video from the bus for possible disciplinary action. John Callahan, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, told CBC the driver is upset over what happened and wished he had done things differently. Although his name has not been released, the driver is described as a man in his 40s who has been driving for 10 years. He has a clean record. The union president said the driver is taking some time off and is undergoing blood tests for HIV and hepatitis C.
According to Callahan, of the 62 assaults on transit employees during 2015, about two thirds of them resulted from fare disputes. The union wants the responsibility of fare collection to be taken out of the hands of drivers and have inspectors do random checks on passengers.
Callahan noted that many drivers who have been spat upon would have preferred to get punched. It was being spat upon that made the driver angry enough to chase the passenger.
The union president hopes no disciplinary action will be taken against the driver.
