Man stabbed while boarding bus
A Coast Mountain Bus Company driver didn’t realize a passenger had been stabbed while boarding his bus in Surrey, a spokesman for the company says.
Stan Sierpina, Coast Mountain vice-president, says the driver had pulled up to a stop near King George Highway and 96 Avenue to let a passenger exit the filled-to-capacity bus when some people forced their way on.
The driver had noticed some kind of an argument at the bus stop as he pulled up, but nothing that appeared to require informing police.
As he pulled away from the stop, somebody shouted at the driver to let a passenger get off near Surrey Memorial Hospital, but didn’t say it was because the man had been wounded.
“No one told him,” Sierpina says.
The driver did stop the bus and let the man get off close to the hospital.
The incident happened about 5:20 p.m. during the afternoon rush hour on Thursday, Jan 31.
A man police describe as “loud and belligerent” was stabbed after he got into a fight at the bus stop with another man. As the 40-year-old man was getting his ticket validated by the driver, the second man approached from behind and stabbed him once in the lower back. At the hospital ER, doctors determined the victim’s injury was not life-threatening, and he was quickly released from hospital.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the driver had not yet spoken to police.
Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow says the force is hoping to locate witnesses to the incident.
“We would expect several people would have witnessed either the verbal altercation or the stabbing,” Morrow says.
The attacker is described as a stocky 5’7” Caucasian, 45-50 years old, with grey hair and grey facial stubble wearing dark clothing and carrying a backpack.
If you have information about the case, call the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
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