For the second time this month, an unknown person unleashed a spray on TTC property. On Sunday afternoon, someone released suspected pepper spray in the vicinity of Runnymede Station in the Bloor West Village area.
“We did receive a call around 3 p.m. for this incident,” Toronto Police spokesperson Ashley Visser said. “It does appear that someone did spray pepper spray at street level, but there were no reported injuries.”
A High Park woman who wished to remain anonymous contacted the Toronto Sun. “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.”
This is potentially the second incident involving pepper spray on TTC property this month. On June 9, an unidentified woman allegedly assaulted a TTC passenger with suspected pepper spray on a bus in Scarborough.
Covering Their Faces
According to the 40-something female, multiple people were affected. She saw members of both the Toronto fire department and ambulance service at the scene. “I saw everyone around me covering their faces, coughing like crazy,” she said. “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 exited the station at Bloor St. W. and Kennedy Ave. “There was a girl standing next to me with her shirt covering her nose, and all these people coughing and wondering what was going on.”
The woman, a High Park business owner, called 911 at 2:52 p.m. She said the call was initially met with skepticism. “I have a history of chronic migraines and I am a little asthmatic. I wanted to get checked out. I still feel there is something in my lungs. I couldn’t see as my eyes were burning.”
Inside the ambulance, they flushed her 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 know what kind. For safety reasons, they “bypassed as a precaution.”
Poorly Handled
The woman felt the situation was “poorly handled.” 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. Did you check the cameras? Did you try to see who released this supposed pepper spray?”
Anyone with information is urged to call police at 416-808-4200 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
