By Pete McIntyre

Attack on bus driver results in discharge

Feb 26, 2020 | 5:17 PM

A man who pled guilty in a attack on a Vernon transit driver has been given a conditional discharge in provincial court.

Twenty-five year old Austin Phillips received one year of probation after pleading guilty to assault.

Another charge of assault and two charges of uttering threats were stayed by the Crown.

Phillips has to pay a $100 victim surcharge.

Police say a 59-year-old male bus driver was grabbed and assaulted after trying to get a man to put out his cigarette at the downtown transit exchange on 31st Avenue on August 19, 2019.

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“The bus driver pulled into the station and noted a man sitting on one of the benches smoking a cigarette,” said Cpl. Tania Finn at the time. “As there is no smoking in or around the transit station, the bus driver excited his bus to speak with the man. When he approached the man, he was grabbed and physically assaulted.”

Mounties say the suspect allegedly spat on a woman who tried to intervene.

The driver was treated in hospital for non-life threatening injuries, but BC Transit was not able to provide an update on his condition due to privacy reasons.

by Pete McIntyre

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