A suspected pepper spray incident at Runnymede Station on Sunday afternoon affected multiple TTC passengers, marking the second such event on TTC property this month. Toronto Police confirmed they received a call around 3 p.m. for the incident at the Bloor West Village station.
No Injuries Reported
“We did receive a call around 3 p.m. for this incident. It does appear that someone did spray pepper spray at street level, but there (were) no reported injuries,” said Toronto Police spokesperson Ashley Visser in a statement.
A High Park woman who wished to remain anonymous told the Toronto Sun she was affected. “I am an injury,” she said. “I was on my way grocery shopping, nothing eventful, just taking the station because it was raining. I decided to take the subway and then this happened.”
Second Incident This Month
This is potentially the second pepper spray incident on TTC property in June. On June 9, an unidentified woman allegedly assaulted a TTC passenger with suspected pepper spray on a bus in Scarborough. Toronto Police said the assailant was on an eastbound bus on Sheppard Ave. E. at Markham Rd. just after 6 p.m. Police did not immediately respond to a query about whether the incidents might be related.
Passengers Covering Faces
The woman, a business owner in her 40s, said multiple people were affected. “I saw everyone around me covering their faces, coughing like crazy. There were at least 30 people who were doing that. And then it just hit me and I started coughing. It was almost like a chemical smell and my throat just got very itchy,” she said. She exited at the Bloor St. W. and Kennedy Ave. exit, where a girl had her shirt over her nose and many were coughing.
She called 911 at 2:52 p.m. and said the operator initially seemed skeptical. “I have a history of chronic migraines. I am also a little asthmatic and I didn’t want to risk it. I wanted to get checked out. I still feel there is something in my lungs. I couldn’t see as my eyes were burning. I went inside the ambulance, and they started flushing my eyes with water. Thank goodness it didn’t result in a traumatic injury.”
The TTC confirmed a spray was unleashed near or outside the station but did not identify the type. For safety, they “bypassed as a precaution.”
Criticism of Response
The woman criticized the handling, saying she looked for updates on the TTC website but found no announcement. “For something so widespread, you shouldn’t hide what happened. You should announce it and say this happened. You should talk about what kind of investigation you guys did. Did you check the cameras? Did you try to see who released this supposed pepper spray?”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-4200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
