Winnipeg Transit, Transit Union say reported overdose death on bus didn’t happen

Reports of an overdose death on a Winnipeg Transit bus spread quickly on social media – but after reviewing video footage and speaking with bus operators, the union that represents transit workers in the city say it didn’t happen.

“They investigated in its entirety and the extent of the investigation brought forward an intoxicated individual that had got up and walked off the bus. That was the closest to what was claimed to have happened,” said Chris Scott, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1505, which represents 1,400 members in Winnipeg.

The rumour started to spread online after a person reported a young woman had died on a city bus – the number 20 from Polo Park. The post claimed the operator continued driving and told passengers to avoid the woman.

Winnipeg Transit saying in a statement Thursday, “We’ve seen a number of posts on various social media platforms sharing a disturbing story, describing an incident on a Transit bus, route 20. We do not have any reports of an incident such as the one described occurring on any of our buses.”

A post from Winnipeg Transit addresses reports of an overdose death on a Winnipeg Transit on its official Twitter account on July 20, 2023. (Photo: CityNews)

Winnipeg Transit says in the case of emergencies, transit operators are trained to call the transit control centre immediately, which will then dispatch appropriate emergency services to the buses’ location. Any person in medical distress will be cared for and taken to hospital if necessary.

On Friday, the City of Winnipeg confirmed Transit had pulled all video and done a thorough review. The person who made the original post on social media — which now appears to be private — did not respond to CityNews’ request for comment.

“It appears it’s not factual at all, I don’t know how the story developed from any type of information, but this definitely was untrue,” said Scott.

“Don’t share the link. Make sure you check through multiple sources to make sure it’s true.”

Chris Scott, president of the Local ATU 1505, speaks with CityNews outside of Union Centre on July 21, 2023. He says information circulating around an overdose death on a city bus is inaccurate and causing harm, encouraging residents to think twice before sharing information they don’t know is true. (Photo Credit: Morgan Modjeski, CityNEws)

Scott said the rumour also spread quickly through the operator community.

He wants people to think twice before posting or sharing a link if they don’t know its factual, as it could do long term harm.

“Stop and think before you do anything. If this was an error of sharing something that you thought was true — again do your own research — if this was a malicious act to draw attention to something, or to trend as the case may be, you’re doing harm to several people,” said Scott.

Scott says this type of misinformation damages peoples’ faith in the transit system, that has already been dealing with safety issues.

He says had the original posts identified the operator, they would have considered legal action against the poster.