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As an elderly couple reels from a Saturday evening assault by a group of out-of-control teens on a GO Train, questions are being asked about Metrolinx’s response.
In a video clip that went viral over the weekend, a group of raucous teen girls are seen openly vaping and drinking vodka on an Oshawa-bound GO Train before verbally and physically assaulting the couple — with one striking a Good Samaritan on the hand and whipping an elderly woman in the face with her jacket before tossing an empty vodka bottle at them.
Amanda, the couple’s daughter, told the Toronto Sun that her father — who has mobility issues and suffers from a number of ailments — was hesitant to press the yellow assistance strip as he didn’t want to risk being trapped in a locked railway carriage with the out-of-control teens.
Metrolinx mum on employee’s indifference
She says they did text a complaint via Metrolinx’s assistance line, but encountered nothing but indifference upon seeking help from a Metrolinx station agent in Oshawa.
“This is something my mom is very upset about,” Amanda told the Sun.
“The (station agent) was like, ‘Nah, whatever, what do you want me to do?’ My mom even had the vodka bottle after they threw it and the lady did not care at all.”
In a brief statement received late Monday afternoon, a Metrolinx spokesperson confirmed that a text was received and that a security officer was assigned to investigate.
Two subsequent follow-up emails to Metrolinx asking about the station agent went unacknowledged.
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Police say they’ve identified suspect
Sgt. Nicholas Gluckstein of Durham Regional Police told the Sun that the incident is under investigation and that the female youth who assaulted the couple and tossed the vodka bottle has been identified.
“Once the investigation is complete, further updates will be made available pertaining to any potential arrests or other possible outcomes,” he told the Sun.
Amanda said her parents were heading home from a day trip to the city when the incident took place.
The teens were initially approached by a woman sitting across the aisle from the elderly couple who asked them to be more respectful, but that allegedly set the girls off — escalating their behaviour to the point where the videotaped assault took place.
A girl wearing pink pants and a black sweater in the video whipped Amanda’s mother in the face and eye before tossing an empty vodka bottle at them as the teens disembarked at Whitby Station.
One of the people who reached out to Amanda after the video went viral was the mother of one of the girls in the video, who apologized for her daughter’s behaviour.
“I have more information about these girls than they probably want me to have,” Amanda told the Sun on Monday.