Transit workers across the Central Okanagan will participate in a minute of silence today at noon to remember Caesar Rosales, a local man who was randomly killed Oct. 30 2014 during his commute home.
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It’s been three years since Rosales was fatally stabbed in the neck, and Scott Lovell, president of Local 1722 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said drivers pay their respects to Rosales on the anniversary of his death by wearing a black ribbon and holding a moment of silence.
In that time, however, violence on transit buses and drivers has reached record levels.
“Violence on public transit in this country has continued to increase and the ferocity of those attacks continues togarner front page headlines,” said Lovell, in a press release.
In Winnipeg this year Irvine Jubal Fraser, a driver of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505 was murdered while on duty.
“Every transit community, every transit jurisdiction has their own tragedies, their own stories of strife and sadness,” said Lovell.
“It is time to recognize this nationally. We invite you to observe National Transit Safety Day with us. On Oct. 30 at noon share with us a one minute moment of silence.”
Rosales’s killer Tyler Jack Newton, 25, was sentenced to seven years in June 2016, but Newton received time and a half credit for the 602 days he’s already been imprisoned.
