Community members are praising the efforts of a GO bus driver for intervening in a situation where a student felt she was in danger.
“Our motto at Metrolinx is see something, say something. In this case, Bryan decided to do something,” said a spokesperson at Metrolinx, Nitish Bissonauth.
On the night of Jan. 21, a University of Guelph student was waiting for the city bus she regularly takes home on her way from work when a car slowed down towards her and two men jumped out, pacing towards her.
After seeing the look of fear on the young woman — who he recognized from the bus stop — GO bus driver Bryan Jerasono stopped the bus 50 metres away from his designated stop, right in front of the student which resulted in the two men fleeing off in their car.
“Her face, it was telling me to stop. She wasn’t making hand gestures or anything but her face was just dead on looking at me saying ‘please stop’ or ‘can you at least slow down or something,’” said Jerasano to Guelphtoday about the incident.
“I opened my door right away and she was quick to board the bus. I asked her if she’s okay and she said yeah, the guys were trying to get her in the car.”
It didn’t end there.
Jerasano felt he couldn’t leave her there, so he chose to drive the student to her home at the university on the GO bus to ensure her safety. He also followed the car to capture its license plate in order to file a police report.
Jerasano said once he discussed the situation with the student, he felt like they just dodged a bullet.
“That’s not really a joke, its actually a reality that she might have been taken or it could have been a couple of guys just trying to have a good time but still she said ‘they were trying to get me in their car,’” said Jerasano.
He said when he got home later that day, the magnitude of the situation hit him when he saw his six-month-old daughter.
“Years from now, if something like that happens, I just can’t imagine it,” said Jerasano.
The mother of the student, Jen Zeineddine, described the incident on a Facebook post on the night of the incident hoping to locate the driver.
She subsequently contacted his supervisors at Metrolinx expressing her gratitude for the incident. Jerasano will now be receiving a Metrolinx Safety Award for his dedication and commitment to public safety from Metrolinx.
“I can’t stress enough how much appreciation I have for this kind soul and would really like to thank him in person someday. He went way above and beyond his duties and went out of his way to help her,” said Zeineddine on a public Facebook post.
“We will never forget him.”
Anne Marie Aikins, media relations manager at Metrolinx said she offered the student's family an opportunity to meet Jerasano in person.
“I hope that one day, we get to reunite them,” said Aikins.
“We do hear stories a lot but every once in a while we hear stories like this one that just went over and above. It’s so impressive and the mom was so grateful to him and it made us all very very proud to hear about it.”
Aikin said safety is a core part of training for all staff at Metrolinx.
She said because many bus drivers are familiar with their customers over time, they keep an eye out for anything that stands out.
“They follow their instincts. That’s what he did when he saw the look on her face. He followed his instincts and stopped and helped,” said Aikins.
Jerasano said he spoke to Zeineddine on the phone discussing the incident.
“If I had a dollar for every ‘thank you’ she said, I would have been so rich right now,” said Jerasano.
He said he doesn’t want to be hailed a hero, and any other Metrolinx staff member would have done the same.
“All these kind comments I got are very humbling. I told my wife ‘you know, this is humanity right here,’” said Jerasano.
