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The driver said he then shut the doors, only to find the man trying to re-enter the bus, getting his right forearm stuck in the door. While his phone was ringing from transit security, he said the passenger began smashing the glass in the door, breaking two quadrants. The driver said he then pushed the man’s arm out the door, only to have him stick his head through the broken glass and continue spitting at him.

There was more smashing of glass and the man “at some point threw a tree limb, with branches attached, obviously at me. It landed by my seat.” The driver said he “redlined” his radio and shouted “get police here immediately.”

And this is where the driver committed what became the firing offence, under conditions where “my adrenaline had skyrocketed.”

He watched the angry passenger walk away down Regina Street and decided to go off his scheduled route and slowly follow the man, so as to “maintain a visual on the perpetrator.” This is contrary to OC Transpo policy, which says he is supposed to stop and secure the bus and wait for help, not become an informal police investigator.

He describes driving the bus at a crawl down Regina but staying well behind the man. Near the corner of Britannia Road — about 200 metres from the first heated encounter — he lost sight of the man, only to then see him suddenly reappear with rocks in his hands. The driver says they were thrown at his window.

And here is where things came to an awful end.

“He then charged the bus — came right to the driver window and punched at it. He moved back, kicked the side of the bus, then came right back to the driver’s window and was hitting it. I made a decision to get the bus away from him.