It has been reported that a student was “brutally hurled at” by transport officers over an alleged failure to tap the Myki travel card on the bus in Melbourne. The argument was on the 601 bus heading to Monash University from Huntingdale Station and was shocking to any onlookers because it all turned out worse than it, if possible, was expected to be.
Clips forming part of social media posts show a young man forcibly held to the ground and complaining that he was having trouble breathing as other self-designated ‘authorised officers’ were trying to control him.
Passengers filmed officers yelling at a student as they ordered him to quit resisting – which he refused to do. Eyewitnesses recounted the savage, one of them saying that the poor student couldn’t breathe because of officers on him.
Citing the Alternative Melbournite, one person noted the following in one of the comments, “Today, on the changing of the bus, a poor young man from an ethnic minority and possibly just a student going for a class was most brutally taken down by five of the Myki staff, his offense? Trying to evade a penalty for not tapping on.
As reported by news.com.au, authorities stated that there had indeed been an altercation with a transport officer and several Victorian policemen were dispatched to the scene, arresting a 24 year old man of East Ivanhoe, who was later let go. There was no information from the police about the broken Myki card system no further announcements were made regarding the events that took place on the bus.
During the course of the investigation, other passengers defended officers and pointed to the use of force that was applied by the officers towards the passengers even for what tenants considered to be minor breach. There was uproar on the event on social media with the public insistent that there should be measures in place and more scrutiny of how transport rules are enforced.’’
