A local disabled senior was injured on an ETS bus Sunday and says the driver who caused it didn’t do anything to help him.
After shopping at Londonderry Mall, 71-year-old Jim Affolter got on the bus and secured his scooter in the handicap area behind the driver, ready to go home. The bus driver then sped off “at such a fast speed,” which caused Affolter to fall forward and hit his leg against a seat.
“I was in shock. I hollered,” Affolter told CTV News. “There was a lady sitting across the aisle for me and she hollered. Nothing happened. The driver kept going and it was just a free-for-all for a couple of minutes.”
Affolter’s shin was cut open and he started to bleed.
“I was in major pain. I was crying. I’ve never felt pain like that in my life.”
“He thought at the time that his leg might be broken because it hurt so bad,” his daughter, Shannon Coulombe, told CTV News.
The senior eventually got off the bus, before another ETS operator driving by noticed he was in distress and called an ambulance for help.
Affolter filed a complaint with ETS. Ryan Birch, the ETS acting director of transit operations, says they’re gathering their information on the incident and trying to track down the driver.
His daughter is upset the bus driver allegedly ignored her injured father.
“I do want to know why the driver did not respond when this happened, considering that my dad was positioned behind the driver at the front of the bus.”
Birch says bus drivers are trained to be more careful when seniors on wheelchairs or scooters board the bus, and expects them to provide assistance if there’s an incident.
“If they find themselves in that situation, we expect they’ll call in and report it, and we’ll deal with it immediately on the spot. We wouldn’t want our operators to ignore a situation like that,” Birch said.
‘I want to thank her’
Affolter says a blonde woman in her 30s assisted him when he was injured on the bus. The man and his daughter hope to find the woman to show their gratitude for her care.
“She was the one who showed some care and concern for the well-being of my dad when he was in this situation and under a lot of stress and in pain, and I would really like to speak with her so that I can thank her,” Coulombe said. “I’m very grateful that she was able to show him a bit of compassion when he went through this.”
If you’re the woman who helped Affolter, or know who did, contact Coulombe here.
With files from Shanelle Kaul
