Four 13-year-old boys have been charged in connection with a “swarm” attack aboard a TTC bus in Scarborough.
Toronto police said two of the boys face one count of assault, while the other two face two counts of assault.
The arrests come after CTV News Toronto obtained security footage from a local business showing at least a dozen people pushing and pushing out of a TTC bus stopped near Kennedy and Merrian roads around 3 a.m. Monday. :35 p.m.
The footage was captured at the same time and place as a “despicable swarm” style assault of two TTC employees.
“There were two TTC operators on duty who were going to an aid point to pick up their vehicle and complete their shift, and they were attacked, as the police said, by a group of 10 to 15 people.” TTC spokesman Stuart Green told CTV News Toronto.
While the TTC workers suffered no life-threatening injuries, Jessica Davis, who saw what happened, says they seemed “really shaken” and the bus driver was “very upset.”
“She was visibly, her hands were shaking,” Davis said.
Police did not confirm whether the incident captured on video was the swarm of TTC employees. However, officers collected the exact same surveillance footage as evidence for their investigation Tuesday morning, and the timestamp on the video matches the time of the incident.
On Monday, police said they received reports of 10 to 15 youths attacking uniformed employees on the bus before fleeing the area.
Police said there was, in fact, a larger group of youths on the bus, but said investigators believe only four were directly involved in the assault.
However, police said the investigation is ongoing and officers are still appealing to anyone with information to come forward.
The four children cannot be identified under the terms of the Juvenile Criminal Justice Act. They must appear in court on March 21 at 2 p.m.
TTC UNION SAYS ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’
The union representing TTC workers, ATU Local 113, calls on the City and TTC to support their members’ defense during these repeated acts of violence.
“We have to stop these acts of violence and disrespect against transportation workers,” Marvin Alfred, president of ATU Local 113, told CTV News Toronto on Tuesday.
In a press release published Tuesday, the union said, “enough is enough”, endorsing the message that its members “shouldn’t have to go to work every day in fear of their lives.”
The swarm-style attack comes just a couple of days after a TTC operator was shot with a BB gun in Scarborough on Saturday night.
Alexandra Stoeckle, the 24-year-old operator, went ahead and wrote an open letter to Mayor John Tory and TTC CEO Rick Leary asking for something to be done.
“These are not one-off incidents, they are targeted attacks. Both employees and passengers are unsafe when they are traveling, driving, and waiting for the TTC,” Stoeckle wrote, later adding that these violent incidents must stop.
“There has to be a change. And people need to remember that we are human beings, we have families and we are people before we were TTC employees.”
With files from Bryann Aguilar of CP24 and Janice Golding and Rahim Ladhani of CTV News Toronto