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‘Leprechaun’ who denied woman a seat on crowded TTC bus shamed on social media
After a “douchebag” in a bowler hat was photographed taking up two seats on a crowded bus — and allegedly assaulted a woman who tried to stop him — thousands of Torontonians have joined an online hunt to track him down.
In a matter of hours, the search for the “leprechaun,” as he has been dubbed because of his green dress shirt and tuft of chin beard, had become one of the most high-profile examples of using social media to shame violators of TTC etiquette.
“So after work I get onto a packed 72 Pape bus and I ask this COLOSSAL DOUCHE BAG very nicely if he can please … move his bag off the seat beside him so I can sit down,” wrote Facebook user Brenda Davie in a Wednesday night post.
“He says, ‘No, my bag is there.’”
In the brief exchange that followed, according to Ms. Davie’s account, the man called her an “airhead,” stomped on her foot and then physically shoved her “into a pile of people.”
Although the TTC was unable to collect security camera footage of the incident, fellow passenger Juan Hodem confirmed Ms. Davie’s account to the National Post.
In a 40-second camera phone video, the man can be seen telling a standing Ms. Davie “you get nothing, pay attention.”
After appearing to muster enough nerve to respond to the man, a visibly frustrated Ms. Davie responds by saying “you’re the one that won’t let people sit down because of your f—king bag.”
Throughout, the bowler-hatted man keeps his eyes glued to his phone and thrusts his middle finger at Ms. Davie.
After sitting down in a nearby seat vacated by another rider, Ms. Davie again turns to the man and says “you just put a foot mark on my f—ing shoe.”
“Leave me alone I don’t talk to airheads,” he replies with a wave of his hand.
“What kind of a real man are you, you can’t let a woman sit down?” she shoots back.
“Pay attention,” the man replies, later saying “you get nothing; pay attention.”
As of Thursday night, Ms. Davie’s post had been shared 7,000 times, earned a mention on CTV and prompted TTC spokesman Brad Ross to contact Ms. Davie via social media.
Mr. Ross told the National Post that the transit agency worked to retrieve security camera footage of the alleged incident, but was unsuccessful.
“We don’t know for certain which bus she was on. The one we suspected, based on the time she indicated, showed nothing,” he wrote in an email.
The identity of the alleged assailant remains unknown, although a source told the National Post that the man works at a downtown call centre and failed to show up to work after news of the transit incident became viral.
Foot-stomping and shoving a fellow TTC rider would qualify as assault, but in subsequent posts, Ms. Davie claimed that the bus was too crowded to allow her to alert the driver.
Aside from saying that one bystander briefly intervened with a “hey man, what the f—,” she said other passengers failed to come to her aid during the exchange.
“At the time I didn’t feel like standing around Pape station … for a pair of cops who would most likely be dicks and make me feel like I’m wasting their time,” she said when asked why she had not filed an assault report.
Mr. Hodem said he did not say anything since, as he was not a Canadian citizen, he could risk deportation if the encounter escalated into a fight.
The overnight fame of Ms. Davie’s post is commensurate with a growing North American trend toward using social media to combat instances of alleged antisocial transit behaviour.
The Tumblr blog “Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train,” for one, collects images of men whose sitting position on public transit is deemed to be too luxurious.
Twitter is home to a vast image gallery of feet-on-the-seat train riders under a myriad of hashtags including #TransitDouche and #SubwayShaming.
For a brief time, Toronto even had a blog by resident Michael Takasaki that used photos to shame inconsiderate transit riders — although the site has since been taken down.
“He’s magically malicious!” wrote Mr. Takasaki in a Thursday Twitter post reposting Ms. Davie’s photo of her alleged assailant.
After a “douchebag” in a bowler hat was photographed taking up two seats on a crowded bus — and allegedly assaulted a woman who tried to stop him — thousands of Torontonians have joined an online hunt to track him down.
In a matter of hours, the search for the “leprechaun,” as he has been dubbed because of his green dress shirt and tuft of chin beard, had become one of the most high-profile examples of using social media to shame violators of TTC etiquette.
“So after work I get onto a packed 72 Pape bus and I ask this COLOSSAL DOUCHE BAG very nicely if he can please … move his bag off the seat beside him so I can sit down,” wrote Facebook user Brenda Davie in a Wednesday night post.
“He says, ‘No, my bag is there.’”
In the brief exchange that followed, according to Ms. Davie’s account, the man called her an “airhead,” stomped on her foot and then physically shoved her “into a pile of people.”
Although the TTC was unable to collect security camera footage of the incident, fellow passenger Juan Hodem confirmed Ms. Davie’s account to the National Post.
In a 40-second camera phone video, the man can be seen telling a standing Ms. Davie “you get nothing, pay attention.”
After appearing to muster enough nerve to respond to the man, a visibly frustrated Ms. Davie responds by saying “you’re the one that won’t let people sit down because of your f—king bag.”
Throughout, the bowler-hatted man keeps his eyes glued to his phone and thrusts his middle finger at Ms. Davie.
After sitting down in a nearby seat vacated by another rider, Ms. Davie again turns to the man and says “you just put a foot mark on my f—ing shoe.”
“Leave me alone I don’t talk to airheads,” he replies with a wave of his hand.
“What kind of a real man are you, you can’t let a woman sit down?” she shoots back.
“Pay attention,” the man replies, later saying “you get nothing; pay attention.”
As of Thursday night, Ms. Davie’s post had been shared 7,000 times, earned a mention on CTV and prompted TTC spokesman Brad Ross to contact Ms. Davie via social media.
Mr. Ross told the National Post that the transit agency worked to retrieve security camera footage of the alleged incident, but was unsuccessful.
“We don’t know for certain which bus she was on. The one we suspected, based on the time she indicated, showed nothing,” he wrote in an email.
The identity of the alleged assailant remains unknown, although a source told the National Post that the man works at a downtown call centre and failed to show up to work after news of the transit incident became viral.
Foot-stomping and shoving a fellow TTC rider would qualify as assault, but in subsequent posts, Ms. Davie claimed that the bus was too crowded to allow her to alert the driver.
Aside from saying that one bystander briefly intervened with a “hey man, what the f—,” she said other passengers failed to come to her aid during the exchange.
“At the time I didn’t feel like standing around Pape station … for a pair of cops who would most likely be dicks and make me feel like I’m wasting their time,” she said when asked why she had not filed an assault report.
Mr. Hodem said he did not say anything since, as he was not a Canadian citizen, he could risk deportation if the encounter escalated into a fight.
The overnight fame of Ms. Davie’s post is commensurate with a growing North American trend toward using social media to combat instances of alleged antisocial transit behaviour.
The Tumblr blog “Men Taking Up Too Much Space On The Train,” for one, collects images of men whose sitting position on public transit is deemed to be too luxurious.
Twitter is home to a vast image gallery of feet-on-the-seat train riders under a myriad of hashtags including #TransitDouche and #SubwayShaming.
For a brief time, Toronto even had a blog by resident Michael Takasaki that used photos to shame inconsiderate transit riders — although the site has since been taken down.
“He’s magically malicious!” wrote Mr. Takasaki in a Thursday Twitter post reposting Ms. Davie’s photo of her alleged assailant.
