AUSTIN (KXAN) — A brutal attack on a CapMetro bus left a woman severely injured earlier this year. The Austin Police Department said a random man approached her and started hitting her in the face.
APD believes the attacker is experiencing homelessness. The department said he had several travel bags, a sleeping bag, a laundry bag and other items consistent with someone camping at different locations. He has not been arrested yet.
The woman, who asked us to conceal her identity, spoke with KXAN about the attack.
‘Punches to my head’
She said it was just another day running errands while taking a CapMetro bus. But on this ride, she wouldn’t leave that bus the same.
“I felt hard punches to my head, and somebody was boxing my head, back and forth, pretty brutally,” the woman said. “I didn’t know what else to do but to fall to the ground and try to protect my head. But he continued to, in a really rageful way, attack my head.”
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The woman told KXAN she is grateful for the bystanders who came to her defense. (Photo: KXAN) -
The woman told KXAN she is grateful for the bystanders who came to her defense. (Photo: KXAN)
The woman said two men on the bus threw him off and one cornered the attacker at the front of the bus.
“Everybody on the bus was yelling to the driver, ‘There’s been an attack. You’ve got to stop the bus.’ The bus driver came to a stop, hesitated for a while, and then opened the door,” the woman said. “Let the attacker off.”
She said the driver then closed the door and kept driving. The woman claimed she had to beg him to stop again and call for help.
“People were hysterical, attempting to get him to stop repeatedly,” the woman said.
When officers arrived, the suspect was gone. This woman is now on a healing journey. She started physical therapy on Friday. But it’s the unseen trauma she also hopes to overcome.
“My heart still races when I’m having to get back on the bus. It’s mental, it’s emotional and a physical journey back to health.”
Austin woman attacked on CapMetro bus
KXAN took her concerns to CapMetro’s Chief Safety officer Gardner Tabon. We asked him what the protocol is when there’s an attack on a bus.
“Once the operator becomes aware, he or she, needs to take immediate action,” Tabon said. “But the immediate action could be, I need to operate my bus safely first, and can I pull over into a safe location to address the matter that’s been brought to me?”
Tabon said the operator contacts control center, who then notifies public safety dispatchers and they contact APD.
“APD will take the actions appropriate to either meet the bus or try to find out who the individual was and apprehend them,” Tabon said.
Based on their review, Tabon said the bus operator in this situation followed their protocol.
“What I reviewed on the video, he did what he was supposed to do,” Tabon said.
KXAN has not seen the video. CapMetro hasn’t given it to us yet pending a legal decision.
CapMetro Transit Police Force
KXAN also asked Tabon for an update on the transit police force, which has been years in the making. It’s supposed to launch this year.
Currently, he said they’re in the recruitment phase. Tabon said they plan to put them at their transit centers. So when they start, people may not see them out as much on buses.
“We promise as soon as we can build up the numbers and get their cycles going and their shifts, they’ll see more and more of them,” Tabon said.
CapMetro said it wants to start with 12 officers and grow from there.
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