Following an assault on a Winnipeg Transit bus early Sunday morning, questions are being raised about what drivers can do to protect themselves in confrontational situations.
But according to the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, there’s not much they can do.
“The driver calls 911, then basically he has to follow whatever the control centre is telling him,” President Aleem Chaudhary said.
Johnathan Meikle was stabbed after confronting a knife wielding man on a Bus Sunday morning, taking actions into his own hands.
“I was scared,” Meikle said. “There is a lot of innocent people there, they were scared.”
“You didn’t know what was going to happen”
However, Transit and Winnipeg Police plead to people not to take actions into their own hands, rather leave it to the professionals.
Police provided Global news with a chart showing the “Number of people charged connected to transit” from 2013.
| Transit Violent Events* | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 to Aug |
| # Events | 61 | 80 | 85 | 67 | 126 | 62 |
| # People Charged | 21 | 22 | 33 | 19 | 52 | 16 |
The 2018 statistics show a dip in incidents, but the ATU hopes that protection is front of mind for city officials.
“It’s getting to a point where we need to protect everybody” Chaudhary said.
“I’ll go back to the councillor and the mayor, it’s time for them to step it up.”