An unidentified man has been accused of assaulting an OC Transpo bus driver at 7:59 p.m. on Oct. 10 after boarding the bus at Carleton’s Athletics building, according to Ottawa police.
The man was acting strangely before slapping the rear of a female passenger and punching and kicking the driver, according to witnesses.
“Charges have been laid. He’s been put before the courts,” said Tim Nolan, the Ottawa police officer investigating the case.
While he declined to give the name of man, Nolan said he poses no threat to Carleton students.
Passengers first noticed the unusual behaviour of the man when he fell to the floor of the bus and started humming, said Erin McIntosh, a fourth-year communications student who was on the bus when the incident happened.
McIntosh said the man then showed other passengers a large, star-shaped scar on the inside of his arm. She said his behaviour escalated into banging on the doors and windows before the bus pulled over a short time later to the side of Bronson Avenue.
McIntosh said as passengers started leaving, the man slapped the rear end of a female passenger.
After pulling over, the driver called OC Transpo security and started smoking a cigarette.
“He points at the bus driver’s cigarette and said, ‘I command you to give me this cigarette.’ The bus driver tries to ignore him and turns his face and when he turns his face the guy socks him in the face, punches him right out,” said McIntosh.
The assailant then allegedly boarded the bus again and began turning the wheel and honking the horn.
“The guy comes back out, he comes out of nowhere up to the bus driver, and just roundhouse kicks him in the chest, the driver falls completely backwards onto the ground,” McIntosh said.
The man then took his clothes off and threw them onto Bronson Avenue before walking away, said Mahmoud El-Hennawey, a fifth-year engineering student who also witnessed the incident.
The man was arrested a short time later by the Ottawa police near the intersection of Bronson Avenue and Lakeview Terrace.
Related articles:
UPDATED: One of two men involved in stabbing incident charged
