Dee
09-22-2008, 04:03 PM
Ontario police try to piece together what happened in Greyhound stabbing
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
WHITE RIVER, Ont. (CP) - Police were trying to determine Monday how a man accused of stabbing a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in northern Ontario came to be on the coach.
The attack near White River came less than two months after the beheading of a carnival worker on another Greyhound raised concerns about the safety of bus passengers. A woman who phoned in the attack Sunday afternoon from the bus said the accused had been put aboard by provincial police about an hour earlier in Wawa, Ont.
She said passengers didn't know why he was with the police or how officers failed to notice he had a knife when he got on the bus.
Const. James Searle of the Ontario Provincial Police refused to say whether officers had escorted the accused onto the bus.
"What I can basically tell you is that part of the investigation is determining how the gentleman did get on the bus," Searle said Monday. "We are determining how he came to be on the bus."
The woman said she told police over the phone that a rider had been knifed by another traveller near White River, roughly halfway between Thunder Bay, Ont., and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The bus was on its way to Winnipeg from Toronto.
After the stabbing, the alleged attacker demanded to be let off the bus before the next scheduled stop, the witness said. He was arrested a short time later on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Searle said officers were trying to piece together a motive as they don't believe the attacker and the victim knew each other.
He wouldn't confirm the victim had been stabbed, although the woman who reported the attack said she saw him bleeding and holding his chest.
The victim, who was not identified, was taken to hospital in Wawa and later transferred to Sault Ste. Marie. Searle said the man's injuries were not serious and he was expected to be released from hospital Monday or Tuesday.
Police would not say where he was from or where he got on the bus.
David Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ont., was to appear in court Tuesday in Sault Ste. Marie to face charges of aggravated assault and two counts of breach of probation.
The stabbing brought back dark memories of the gruesome slaying in July of Winnipegger Tim McLean, 22, on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba.
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh directed questions to the provincial police, saying she didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
Wambaugh said Greyhound has been working with Transport Canada for more than 1 1/2 years to improve security measures.
The federal agency provided funding for an evaluation of the risk to passengers riding on buses such as Greyhound, she said.
"Upon completion of the risk assessment, we will be ... coming to them with our recommendations about what security measures we think would be most practical for inter-city bus travel like Greyhound," Wambaugh said from Dallas.
She said she didn't know when the risk assessment would be complete.
There were 14 passengers on board the bus when the attack happened Sunday. The woman who telephoned police told the Winnipeg Free Press she had deliberately sat at the front because she thought it would be safer.
She said after letting off the accused, the driver continued to White River, where an ambulance took the victim to hospital. The remaining passengers were questioned by police and then put on a Reid Bus Line charter to Thunder Bay.
Passengers on their way to Winnipeg were expected to be delayed by many hours
Ont. police try to piece together what happened in Greyhound stabbing (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/greyhound_stabbing)
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
WHITE RIVER, Ont. (CP) - Police were trying to determine Monday how a man accused of stabbing a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in northern Ontario came to be on the coach.
The attack near White River came less than two months after the beheading of a carnival worker on another Greyhound raised concerns about the safety of bus passengers. A woman who phoned in the attack Sunday afternoon from the bus said the accused had been put aboard by provincial police about an hour earlier in Wawa, Ont.
She said passengers didn't know why he was with the police or how officers failed to notice he had a knife when he got on the bus.
Const. James Searle of the Ontario Provincial Police refused to say whether officers had escorted the accused onto the bus.
"What I can basically tell you is that part of the investigation is determining how the gentleman did get on the bus," Searle said Monday. "We are determining how he came to be on the bus."
The woman said she told police over the phone that a rider had been knifed by another traveller near White River, roughly halfway between Thunder Bay, Ont., and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The bus was on its way to Winnipeg from Toronto.
After the stabbing, the alleged attacker demanded to be let off the bus before the next scheduled stop, the witness said. He was arrested a short time later on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Searle said officers were trying to piece together a motive as they don't believe the attacker and the victim knew each other.
He wouldn't confirm the victim had been stabbed, although the woman who reported the attack said she saw him bleeding and holding his chest.
The victim, who was not identified, was taken to hospital in Wawa and later transferred to Sault Ste. Marie. Searle said the man's injuries were not serious and he was expected to be released from hospital Monday or Tuesday.
Police would not say where he was from or where he got on the bus.
David Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ont., was to appear in court Tuesday in Sault Ste. Marie to face charges of aggravated assault and two counts of breach of probation.
The stabbing brought back dark memories of the gruesome slaying in July of Winnipegger Tim McLean, 22, on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba.
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh directed questions to the provincial police, saying she didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
Wambaugh said Greyhound has been working with Transport Canada for more than 1 1/2 years to improve security measures.
The federal agency provided funding for an evaluation of the risk to passengers riding on buses such as Greyhound, she said.
"Upon completion of the risk assessment, we will be ... coming to them with our recommendations about what security measures we think would be most practical for inter-city bus travel like Greyhound," Wambaugh said from Dallas.
She said she didn't know when the risk assessment would be complete.
There were 14 passengers on board the bus when the attack happened Sunday. The woman who telephoned police told the Winnipeg Free Press she had deliberately sat at the front because she thought it would be safer.
She said after letting off the accused, the driver continued to White River, where an ambulance took the victim to hospital. The remaining passengers were questioned by police and then put on a Reid Bus Line charter to Thunder Bay.
Passengers on their way to Winnipeg were expected to be delayed by many hours
Ont. police try to piece together what happened in Greyhound stabbing (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/greyhound_stabbing)