TL;DR – Apparently, the bus captain was also robbed by his two attackers.
Two men, aged 61 and 70, have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a bus captain while onboard a bus, reported Mothership. According to Mothership’s article, the police were alerted to the incident which occurred along Loyang Avenue at about 10.50 am on 2 November.
You may watch the footage of the assault incident submitted by a Mothership reader below:
Reportedly, the two men were arrested on the same day and are accused of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with common intention under the Penal Code.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the police officers from Bedok Police Division revealed that the two men had allegedly assaulted the bus captain as they were angry with him for telling them to put on their masks properly.
The two men are also being investigated for allegedly not complying with safe distancing measures.
If convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with common intention, they may be jailed up to 10 years, as well as fined or caned.
And if found to be guilty of breaching COVID-19 measures, they may be fined up to $10,000, face an imprisonment term of up to six months, or both.
NTWU “strongly condemns” any act of violence and crime against public transport workers
On 3 November, Labour MP Melvin Yong, who is also the Executive-Secretary of the National Transport Workers’ Union (NTWU) said in a Facebook post that the bus captain who was assaulted had also been robbed by his two attackers before fleeing the scene.
He shared that the injured bus captain has since been discharged after obtaining medical treatment and is currently on medical leave.
The Labour MP also said that the NTWU “strongly condemns” any act of violence and crime against public transport workers, and will be working with the police to ensure that assailants face the full force of the law.
You may read his full Facebook post below:
Plastic shield to protect bus captains
Last year in September, Yong shared that the bus engineers from SMRT have come up with a new plastic shield for the bus captain’s cabin.
Shields for our public transport heroes, to protect them against virus and nasty commuters
According to Yong, the prototype is designed in-house by SMRT after taking into account the feedback from union leaders and bus captains. The new plastic shield now has an anti-glare film to help minimise glare, which was an issue with the previous designs.
The new shield is also said to be able to “provide a better protection for the bus captain from someone throwing a punch”.
Perhaps it is high time this initiative be rolled out for all public buses!