It was on the Lougheed Station platform on April 28 at 1 p.m. that Kathy Minesaki was waiting for the train to Vancouver.
There was only one other person there – and she says that person groped her.
“He came beside me and touched my butt,” she said.
Minesaki reported the incident to Transit Police with the incident fresh in her mind. But despite giving a detailed description of the suspect to Transit Police over the phone, she got a phone call back weeks later saying the surveillance footage had been taped over.
Transit police say the video could have shown if the touch was intentional or not, but because of the miscommunication between officers, they were not able to view it.
“We have apologized to her for what took place in terms of not obtaining the video, but I would like to apologize again,” said Anne Drennan, Metro Vancouver Transit Police spokesperson.
“This is something that very rarely happens…in this case, as a result of the miscommunication, we didn’t get the video.”
Drennan says they’ve never seen a similar case of tape being recorded over, and that they’re going to reexamine their practices with respect to obtaining video to try and assure this doesn’t happen again. She also says Transit Police looked for any additional reports of assault by a man with the description Minesaki gave them, but did not find any.
But that’s small solace for Minesaki, who says she’s now uncomfortable taking the SkyTrain.
“If I don’t have to take it, I don’t want to take it,” she said.
“If that happens at one in the afternoon, I don’t want to be there in the evening.”
– With files from Jill Bennett