Transit police looking to speak with woman at centre of potential hate crime investigation

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Transit police want to speak with the woman at the centre of an alleged hate crime that happened on a Vancouver bus on Sunday evening. Investigators say they have heard from the victims and now want to the hear the other side.

Sergeant Clint Hampton with Metro Vancouver Transit Police points out it’s basic policing: They need the woman seen swearing at the teens to step forward.

“There’s two sides to every story and in order to have a complete investigation it would require us to identify the suspect.”

Investigators are working to identify the woman, and Hampton says they also want to hear from more of the passengers on the bus who witnessed the altercation.

.@TransitPolice appealing for witnesses and anyone who knows her to call them or for her to come forward on her own. “There are two sides to every story and in order to have a complete investigation, it would require us to identify this suspect,” says @SgtCHampton on @NEWS1130.

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) July 22, 2019

NEWS 1130’s Lauren Boothby was on the 95 B-line heading out of Vancouver on July 21 when she noticed a woman yelling at a group of teens for not speaking English. She says the confrontation then took a violent turn when the woman got off the bus.

“The woman threatened to grab the kid by the hair and pull her off the bus. Then when her bus stop came, she stood up and she slammed her backpack into the kid’s face.”

RELATED: Transit police investigate possible hate crime after teens told to ‘speak English’ on bus

The teens are from Brazil, and were speaking Portuguese. Alessandra Ribeiro, 17, was struck in the face by the backpack.

She said the woman accused her and her friends, who were having a conversation, of being “snarky” and “disrespectful.”

“She used it as an excuse, I think, to cover for the fact that she was bothered that we were speaking Portuguese,” Ribeiro told Boothby after the incident.

.@TransitPolice invest. cont’s. Still trying to ID woman involved. Say all evidence will be forwarded to Crown Coun. which decides if charges are laid. Say it’s up to Crown to bring someone back from their country to testify in court if needed. Hear from @SgtCHampton on @NEWS1130 https://t.co/K7tkz2aIq6

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) July 22, 2019

As for whether any charges will be laid, Hampton says that’s up to the Crown. The victim told NEWS 1130 that because she is from Brazil, she may not want to make the trip back to Vancouver to testify. Hampton says that doesn’t jeopardize the chance of charges being laid.

“Transit Police then would forward all the evidence that’s acquired to Crown Counsel, and then the Crown ultimately determines whether or not it’s within public interest to bring someone back from their home country to testify in court,” he says, acknowledging it is not common for someone to come back.

If you have information about what happened, please contact Transit Police by phone at 604-516-7419 or by text 877777.

With files from Sonia Aslam.