Transit driver, supervisor assaulted in separate incidents

Two individuals are facing charges for assaulting Winnipeg Transit employees in two separate incidents within a 10-hour period on Tuesday. In the first incident, a 51-year-old man allegedly threw a beer can at a driver while exiting a bus at Dunkirk Avenue and Kingston Row around 6 a.m. The man bit the driver, who tried to restrain him.

The suspect was charged with assault and is currently in custody. In the second incident, a 31-year-old woman refused to pay bus fare at Main Street and Pioneer Avenue around 3:40 p.m. She punched a supervisor enforcing fares outside a stopped bus. The supervisor held the woman until police arrived. The suspect faces a charge of assaulting a peace officer and was released on an appearance notice.

These incidents follow a call for new safety shields to be tested on Winnipeg Transit buses after a female passenger stabbed a driver with a syringe through a safety shield on August 5.