Disturbing video shows TTC assault on 81-year-old woman left with concussion and unease about riding the subway
Winnie McCaig was on her way to the dentist in October when the 81-year-old New Brunswick native was suddenly struck in the head by another commuter at Dundas station.
Her attacker darted. McCaig cried out for help but says no one came to her aid. When she alerted a nearby TTC employee, she says they asked why she hadn't fought back.
McCaig was left with a concussion, blurry vision, lingering neck pain - and, like many in Toronto right now, anxiety about taking the subway.
I'm not living in a paper bag," the Port Credit resident said. But once fiercely independent, McCaig said she now feels uncomfortable when strangers walk behind her. She's not sure when she'll ride the subway alone again. You ask if I'm timid. Yes, I am nervous."
Police arrested McCaig's suspected attacker on Nov. 3. The person has been charged with assault causing bodily harm. They're currently being held in custody.
Though not one for the spotlight, McCaig reached out to the Star following the death of Vanessa Kurpiewska, who died after she was stabbed by a stranger on a train near High Park station earlier this month.
It was one in a string of random violent assaults on TTC passengers in 2022. In June, a woman died after being set on fire on a bus at Kipling station. Two months before, a university student was shot and killed outside of Sherbourne station.
As the Star recently reported, violent crime on the TTC has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a significant drop in ridership.
In 2019, the TTC recorded 666 offences - which includes assault, sexual assault, theft, harassment, and indecent exposure - against customers. The first two years of the pandemic saw that figure rise above 730. In the first half of 2022, the TTC reported 451 offences against customers. If that rate persisted, the TTC will have reported roughly 900 offences this year. As of November, the TTC's weekday ridership was about 68 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
According to Toronto police's public safety data portal, major crime is at a five-year high.
In an email, Stuart Green, the transit agency's spokesperson, said the TTC was concerned to hear about this incident and the customer's experience with our staff in the aftermath." He also said police were immediately notified and further collaboration led to an arrest of the suspect.
Like everyone, we are obviously concerned about incidents of violence on the TTC," Green said. We remain committed to working with police, the City of Toronto and our union partners on ways we can all make the TTC as safe as possible for customers and employees."
In response to increasing offences across Toronto's bus system, the TTC has previously pointed to three possible causes for rising crime: a greater number of special transit constables available to file a report; pushback against the bygone mask mandate; and an increase of people, some of whom may be struggling with their mental health and other chronic issues, seeking refuge in subway stations, trains and buses. (Over the course of one week in November, emergency shelters were more than 98 per cent full, the Star reported.)
Bridgette Ritacca, McCaig's daughter, said her mom has always been an outgoing person, keen to strike up conversation with strangers. But the attack, she said, seems to have dampened her joie de vivre.
Ritacca is not only disappointed by how TTC employees apparently responded when McCaig alerted them to the assault but the fact that the TTC didn't follow up to see how her mother was doing afterwards, despite several letters, emails and calls.
They didn't want to deal with us," Ritacca said. McCaig said it feels like the transit agency wants to sweep incidents like this under the rug.
In his emailed statement, Green said the TTC expects front-line staff to be responsive and supportive when things like this happen and if a complaint has been filed, it will be followed up on."
The family would like to see more uniform security patrolling subway stations and transit vehicles, as well as improved training to ensure front-line employees are better equipped to respond to attacks.
The transit agency has previously said it already provides employees with conflict avoidance and de-escalation" training.
The TTC also said it has recently increased the presence of special constables on subways and continues to work with police to boost their profile across Toronto's transit system. However, the union representing TTC workers, CUPE 5089, has said as few as eight special constables, working in pairs, patrol across the city at any given time.
Meanwhile, experts interviewed by the Star say increasing police presence won't improve security on the TTC, which they say is hampered by underlying socioeconomic conditions, such as the city's mental health, toxic drug and housing crises, that have worsened during the pandemic.
Though she's steadily recovering from her concussion, McCaig is still stuck with pain that extends from her neck down her left arm.
At this point, what I have left is what I'll be dealing with, I think, the rest of my life," she said.
With files from Lex Harvey and Ben Spurr
Ben Mussett is a Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: bmussett@thestar.ca