Winnipeg police investigate violent transit incident

Winnipeg police say a man was stabbed after getting off a transit bus Sunday night, and they’re looking for suspects.
Officers were called to the intersection of St. Mary’s Road and Vivian Street around 8:50 p.m., where they found the 36-year-old victim with a serious upper-body injury. He was taken to hospital in unstable condition, later upgraded to stable.
Police said the man was riding the bus when a group of people got on at St. Mary’s and Marion Street and got into a verbal argument with him, which escalated into a physical assault. The fight continued outside the bus, at which point the man was stabbed.
According to police, a witness helped the injured victim get back on the bus and the driver called police while the suspects — whom the victim didn’t know — ran off.
Amalgamated Transit Union president Chris Scott told 680 CJOB efforts to make buses safer for operators and passengers are ongoing, and he’d like to see more investments into safety from the provincial and federal governments.
The statistics, Scott said, show that there’s been a slight decrease in bus incidents year-over-year, but that may not paint an accurate picture.
“We pushed for years for the community safety officers, and now that program is implemented this year, that may be why we are seeing that decrease in acts of violence and assaults toward transit personnel,” he said.
“But unfortunately, with only 20-25 people, that’s like spitting on a fire.
“The growing concern is the severity of the acts of violence. They’re escalating from spitting and arguing to physical assaults, and obviously stabbings… which is a huge concern to us.”
Anyone with information about Sunday’s incident is asked to call major crimes investigators at 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).