'I just kept patting my face, and once I realized there's no blood, there's nothing there -- after I kind of realized okay, at least it wasn't bullets -- that's when it hit that I was just shot for being a TTC employee,' she said.
The 24-year-old TTC operator was waiting for the bus she was taking over to begin her shift when something hit her in the chest.
"Obviously, your human reaction is to cover your face when that happens. And once it stopped, and I looked back over, it was just teenagers in their car. They shouted some profanities at me and the TTC and drove away," she said. Stoeckle remembered she was a bit hesitant to report the incident to authorities, thinking, "why bother?" when the suspects had already fled. But she decided to make the call.
"I really don't wish they would have to make that phone call. That's when it really hits you that ... if it was real bullets, I wouldn't have made that call, and someone would have called the ambulance, but it would have been too late from where I got hit," Stoeckle said."That's a sign of how normalized it's become that I'm just so used to it at this point that I'm not really panicked," she said. "I feel calm. I don't feel scared.
She is requesting a committee that not only consists of city officials, police and union leaders but also of TTC employees be created to address the recent incidents. On Monday, two TTC operators were attacked in Scarborough by a group of teenagers in what police were calling a"We don't deserve that," she said. "There has to be change. And people need to remember we are human beings, we have families, and we are people before we are TTC employees."
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Woman in her 20s rushed to hospital after stabbing on TTC streetcarToronto police have arrested a suspect and say it is unclear whether victim and suspect knew each other after the incident on the Spadina streetcar just south of Bloor Street West.
Read more »
Young woman stabbed by stranger on Toronto streetcar in latest episode of TTC violenceAnother day, another harrowing episode of violence within Toronto's public transit system — this one involving a suspect who, according to police, ...
Read more »
Woman stabbed on Spadina streetcar, female suspect arrestedViolence on the TTC continued Tuesday afternoon with a woman in her 20s stabbed.
Read more »
'I was shot for being a TTC employee': woman shot with BB gun calls for actionAlexandra Stoeckle, the TTC bus operator who was shot at with a BB gun in Scarborough, has written an open letter to Toronto Mayor John Tory and TTC CEO Rick Leary, calling for action.
Read more »
Police investigate after TTC bus operator shot with BB gunNo injuries were reported. Police say the suspects, described as possibly teenagers, left in a black sedan
Read more »
Busy downtown Toronto intersection closed for 2 weeks for broken water main repairsWater main repairs in a busy area of downtown Toronto will take at least two weeks, and will force detours for drivers and streetcar riders alike.
Read more »