Among the stories we covered over the weekend – we learned from WSB’er “breanna43” via the WSB Forums that her mom, who lives on Alki, is the Metro bus driver hospitalized after being attacked on the job while her bus was stopped in Tukwila. Here’s our original story; we are following up this morning with safety concerns raised by her family. First in: King County Council chair Bob Ferguson sent a statement today:
I want to express my concern about the vicious attack on a County employee on Saturday. The County joins the employee’s family in hoping for her complete and speedy recovery.
As a regular bus commuter, I understand that safety aboard Metro buses is paramount. The County will investigate what additional precautions can be taken to ensure the well-being of drivers and riders alike. Bus drivers and their passengers are also grateful for the quick action of law enforcement in arresting the individuals responsible for the attack. No one should have to fear violence for simply doing their job.”
We have requested interviews with Metro/King County Department of Transportation to find out more about safety precautions and also about what will be done for this specific driver. Her daughter, meantime, tells us her mom is recovering physically but dealing with post-traumatic stress from what happened; she also has gone online and read the comments of support posted after our earlier story and elsewhere, and is “thankful that people are supportive,” her daughter says. The family’s doing some TV interviewing too; look for a followup story tonight on KING5. And we are checking with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office regarding the status of the 15-year-old arrested in connection with the attack.
1:35 PM UPDATE: Almost as soon as we hit “publish” on this story, we got a call back from Jim Jacobsen, Metro deputy general manager. He says they will be reviewing safety procedures because of this, though it’s been a while since the last time Metro checked into the possibility of enclosures for drivers; he says they’ll await results of the police investigation to see what else might be worth looking into. He says the system averages one incident each month that results in a driver injury. Drivers go through training to deal with difficult riders, he says, but in this case, their understanding is that it was unprovoked, and there was no time to go through any sort of “de-escalation.” We received early documents from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office that indicate the suspect became angered because the driver, in keeping with Metro policy, refused to open the bus’s rear door – it was after 7 pm, which means you’re supposed to exit through the front door. The suspect is identified in documents as a 15-year-old Renton High School ninth-grader; he is due for a detention review in Juvenile Court at 2:30 this afternoon.
Back to Metro – Jacobsen says, most of all, “We’re pretty concerned about the operator and her family want to make sure she gets the help she needs and makes a full recovery.”
ADDED 5:31 PM: King County Executive Dow Constantine has issued a statement about the attack and Metro security – read on for the full text:
“On behalf of all those who work for King County Metro Transit, I am deeply saddened by the brutal criminal assault of one of our operators during the early morning hours of Jan 23. Our thoughts and prayers go out to both the transit operator and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery.
“This was a senseless act of violence and one we hope will result in convictions for those who committed this violent crime. I would like to thank the King County Transit Police and officers from Tukwila, SeaTac and Sound Transit Police for their quick action in apprehending suspects within hours of the assault. Immediately following the incident a Metro supervisor arrived at the hospital to help coordinate support for the injured operator.
“Once the police investigation of this incident is complete, I have asked Metro Transit to conduct its own review so we can determine what more can be done to improve the safety of our system.
“The message must be clear: under state law, any act of violence against a bus operator is a felony crime. We will be closely watching how the criminal cases resulting from this assault unfold. I hope the criminal justice system sends a strong message that criminals found guilty of a felony assault such as this are dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.
“Public and employee safety is and will always be Metro Transit’s number one priority. Over the past year we’ve seen assaults against operators drop by 19.3 percent. This reduction reflects expansion of Metro’s Transit Police Unit over the past several years. We now have a transit police force of 68 commissioned officers, the size of some city police departments in the region. And we have gone to great lengths to establish partnerships with other police departments in the county so we can respond as quickly as possible whenever there is an incident on a Metro bus. The response we saw Saturday morning was an example of that strong coordinated relationship.
“As we have all witnessed in recent weeks, this is a community that will not stand by and condone senseless crimes against public servants who are so dedicated to doing their jobs each and every day.”
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