Toronto Police are looking for a man who appears to have attacked and injured a complete stranger on a subway car.
The report to investigators after the assault says it happened at about 6:20 a.m. Saturday March 16. The victim got on the subway at Kipling Station and was travelling east on the Bloor-Danforth Line (Line 2)when the trouble started.
"(The victim) got into a verbal altercation of some sort with another man who then assaulted him," const. Allyson Douglas-Cook tells NEWSTALK 1010. "The man then fled the train and fled in an unknown direction."
A Facebook post by the victim's daughter alleges her father's glasses were ripped from his face before he was punched, thrown to the ground, kicked, and stomped on. Glandale Agustin says the attack left her dad bloodied with several broken ribs. Police could not confirm the extent of the man's injuries, saying only that they were serious enough to require the attention of a hospital.
Agustin is frustrated that other passengers did not try to stop the attack.
"There are people inside the train that witnessed the incident but NOBODY HELPED HIM even though my dad cried for help, instead they get off from the next station," she writes.
Douglas-Cook says the victim told police there were a handful of people on the train when the attack started and believed that they had been afraid for their own safety. The Toronto Transit Commission says there's no evidence of anyone hitting the yellow strip onboard the train that would have triggered a call for help.
"Had the emergency alarm been activated, the train would have immediately held at the next station," explains spokesperson Stuart Green. "Doors would have opened and it would not have moved until station staff or our chief supervisor looked into it and obviously at that point, could have escalated it."
It is not clear where along the Bloor-Danforth Line the attack ultimately happened or at which stop the attacker or victim left the subway system.
Douglas-Cook says police are looking for a suspect described as standing about 5'9 with a large build, and short, straight, black hair.
Police will not have the benefit of on-board cameras to help piece together what happened.
While investigators have access to cameras on subway platforms and elsewhere at or near transit stations, subway cars on the Bloor-Danforth Line are the only TTC vehicles not yet equipped with cameras. Green expects the first cars on the line with cameras to go into service in the next three months, but the retrofit won't be complete until 2021.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 41 Division at 416-808-4100