Woman filming bus brawl after fireworks left bloodied in attack (VIDEO) / News

A local real estate agent has been left with horrific bruises following a traumatic incident after attending fireworks on Saturday night in Vancouver.

Like thousands of people, Karen Ericson had left Vancouver’s English Bay area after the Honda Celebration of Light and headed home. She was on a packed bus on the North Shore when about five people in their 20s confronted the bus driver. She says they wanted to get on the bus, but the driver didn’t want to let them.

She says they were verbally abusive towards the driver, and in particular, one of the women in the group was swearing loudly and shouting at the driver.

Ericson says that’s when she started filming.

“I pulled my phone so I could video to protect the bus driver in case [of future] “Twilight,” she said.

Security arrived and after a discussion with the driver, the group was allowed to stay on board. However, a member of the security team boarded the bus with them.

“As we went on, one of the girls from the group started yelling at me, ‘you know, you’re not supposed to video us, but it’s illegal.’”

“I just sat there at that point. And then I started talking to one of the girls in that group because I, again, felt very scared,” she said.

After getting off the bus in West Vancouver, she had been walking just a few feet towards her car when she was hit from behind.

“I was completely blind. I don’t even remember how it hit me if it hit my head [or] where but I was basically hit and then thrown to the ground with my face first,” she said. “I went back to see what had happened and saw two girls running away,” she said.

“It was quite traumatic.”

West Vancouver police confirmed that officers responded to a report of an assault early Sunday morning in the Royal Park area.

“A 22-year-old woman was arrested at the scene of the attack. She has since been released with conditions pending her appearance in court in November,” the Sgt. Mark McLean For The Daily Hive.

He says the police will recommend for consideration the charge of assault causing bodily harm in this case to the Prosecution Service.

“The victim in this case did nothing wrong,” McLean said.

“We recommend that police contact the public if they are involved in a confrontation so that it can de-escalate before it turns violent. In this specific case, there did not appear to be any warning before the attack, however, we are still investigating.”

For Ericson, she still suffers from the effects of a concussion four days later, as well as bruises on her face and legs.

“I think [I am] very, very lucky that it wasn’t worse,” she said, adding that nothing was broken.

But the incident has left her more concerned about safety and she shared a video talking about her experience on social media in the hope of bringing her experience to light.

“[I was] it’s because I got involved. And so it begs the question, Will people stop getting involved because there is a fear of retaliation?

“I think it’s a question people are asking themselves and I think it’s a very sad statement because Vancouver every day, it seems like we have incidents that are getting worse and it doesn’t seem like a lot of consequences for individuals,” she said.

“It’s becoming a city I don’t know. I’m almost 60 years old and I don’t know the city anymore,” she explained.

After the attack, she says she felt she would no longer be involved.

“I thought to myself,’ I’m never going to do this again’… It’s been four days now and [I feel] I would absolutely do it again, I would go to beat someone because that’s just kind of who we are. Most of my friends and family would do the same. It’s who we are as Canadians, ” she said.

She added that she asks the response from transit officials to allow the group to board the bus after their behavior was questioned by the driver.

“What I saw and my feelings in it is that this bus driver was undermined by what he wanted. He didn’t want people on the bus and security came and cancelled it,” she said.

“He pulled away, walked away, and got angry. He was really upset. And you know, in retrospect, he was right,” she said.

“You can walk on a plane and if you’re aggressive, if you’re verbally abusive… you’re not coming. “If you walk into a retail store where a sign says ‘we will not tolerate verbal abuse or harsh language’ but this poor bus driver — and he’s certainly not the only one — I’m sure he has to deal with this every day,” she said.

“It was very sad for me,” she said.

The West Vancouver District, which operates Blue Bus Transit, told Daily Hive that safety is a top priority.

“The event was handled swiftly and appropriately, and included ongoing communication and cooperation between our dispatch, driver, transit safety and transit supervisor. Dispatch contacted security and the response was almost immediate, with security staying on the bus to board it from the city centre to Park Royal North to ensure the safety of the driver and passengers was never compromised,” the statement said.

“At Park Royal, a supervisor went up to speak to the driver and ask if it was OK to continue. From there, the bus continued on its way to Horseshoe Bay after being cleared to proceed by the on-site transit supervisor and security,” the city said.