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Woman arrested for ‘apparent hate crime’ on Vancouver bus, police say

Click to play video: 'Transit Police searching for female suspect in alleged hate crime'
Transit Police searching for female suspect in alleged hate crime
Metro Vancouver Transit Police are looking to identify a female suspect who attacked a teen and Good Samaritan in what they are describing as another alleged hate crime. Grace Ke reports – Jun 1, 2020

A suspect has now been arrested for allegedly attacking a young woman and a Good Samaritan in an apparent hate crime on a Vancouver bus.

The incident reportedly happened on May 17 when a 17-year-old girl and her mother boarded a bus near Pacific Centre Mall in Vancouver.

A woman who was already on the bus asked the teen, who was wearing a headscarf, where she was from and if she was Canadian.

The woman then “ridiculed and mocked the teen’s ethnicity,” police said in an earlier release, and became increasingly aggressive, telling her, “Your smile is making me want to punch you in the face.”

The woman then allegedly punched the teen in the head several times. The girl’s headscarf was partially knocked off before her mother and another passenger were able to separate the two.

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The suspect got off the bus at Hastings Street and Jackson Avenue and was followed by a Good Samaritan, who called 911.

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However, when the suspect noticed she was being followed, she allegedly removed her boots and began hitting the Good Samaritan. She brandished a knife and took off, police said.

A 36-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was identified and Metro Vancouver Transit Police are recommending charges of assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and failure to comply with a probation order.

She has not been named as charges have not yet been laid.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 23 at Vancouver Provincial Court.

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