Random transit attack leaves Calgary youth with serious injuries; police charge man in connection
A 17-year-old Calgarian is concerned about safety in the city and on transit after he was randomly attacked while getting off a bus.
Jacob Giraldo Mejia was on his way to work at a downtown diner just before 9 a.m. on March 16 when he was assaulted by another passenger as they exited a city bus near 1st Street and 8th Avenue S.W.
Giraldo Mejia says he didn't even see the man behind him throw the punch that shattered his jaw.
"(It) was fractured in two areas," he said, adding he received surgery at Foothills hospital.
"I have four plates in my jaw."
The teen says he called 911 right away.
Calgary police say the bus driver also called, explaining witnesses saw the suspect board the eastbound LRT.
Police say this helped officers arrest the suspect minutes later.
Peter Wiebe, 25, was charged with assault causing bodily harm, obstruction of an officer and possession of government ID in another person's name.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact police at 403-266-1234.
Giraldo Mejia says he kept to himself on the bus.
He says his attacker was a stranger.
"It could have happened to anyone," he said.
He says riding transit is the best way to get around, but he is hesitant to use it again.
His family moved here from Colombia decades ago because of the safety concerns due to unrest in that country, so his family was shocked this happened in Calgary.
"You just get assaulted and sent to hospital by a random person for nothing… and he's a kid… just disappointed, scared as well, a little bit," said his brother, Augustin Giraldo Mejia.
They think security measures should be beefed up.
"There could be a security officer on a bus or more security measures on transit," said another brother, Salomon Giraldo Mejia.
Jacob Geraldo Mejia, 17, far right, with his brothers Pablo, Agustin and Salomon and their parents Maria and Jorge.
His family is also concerned about what this could mean for his future.
While the teen seems to be recovering well, he says doctors have advised him not to do any schoolwork for about a month, to allow his brain to heal.
"It's supposed to be four weeks of school I have to completely miss because I can't use my brain, allegedly," he said.
While he understands the doctor's advice, the Grade 12 student at Western Canada High worries missing that much school might impact his plans to graduate and join the military.
"I was really hoping to graduate this year and now, it's a higher chance that I may not, which is unfortunate," he said.
Though he doesn't think he could have prevented this random attack, the teen says if he takes city transit again, he plans to be more aware of his surroundings, since he had been listening to music on headphones when he was hit from behind.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Triple murder or manslaughter? Sudbury jury deliberating fate of man responsible for fatal firebombing
After a lengthy series of instructions from Justice Dan Cornell, a Sudbury jury is deliberating whether to find a suspect guilty of three counts of manslaughter or three counts of murder.
President Joe Biden calls Japan and India 'xenophobic' nations that do not welcome immigrants
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.