PORTLAND, Ore. – A woman said she stepped in to help de-escalate an argument on a TriMet bus when she was physically attacked herself.
Natasha Van Wormer was riding the bus through Southeast Portland on Thursday afternoon when she said a woman and her daughter tried to get on near 122nd and Division Street.
She said the two were arguing with the bus driver because the driver said they didn’t have the proper transfer. They refused to get off the bus and continued yelling.
When another passenger tried to help the bus driver, Van Wormer said the mother and daughter got up in his face and kept yelling.
Van Wormer was with her five-year-old son and saw he was getting scared, so she decided to step in and help break things up.
“So I stood up and was like ‘you know this doesn’t have to happen, you don’t have to keep yelling. Just calm down, go to the front of the bus like you were told and just listen. ’ (The daughter) came and got in my face,” she told KATU News.
Listen to the emtional interview with Van Wormer
While the daughter was yelling, the mother came over and put her arm on Van Warmer’s throat, she said. In the scuffle that followed, Van Wormer lost a fingernail and suffered bruises on her arms, face and head.
Another woman on the bus grabbed her young son to protect and comfort him.
“My son was right next to me the whole time and he just kept screaming ‘Mommy, I don’t want you to die,’” Van Warmer said.
During the attack, her friend and other passengers came to her aid before finally getting the suspect and her daughter off the bus. The friend called police and pointed out the pair to officers.
Police said two suspects were taken into custody, although they did not release additional details.
Earlier this week, video surfaced of a seemingly unrelated attack on a TriMet MAX train where several girls assaulted another girl. In that case, nobody stepped in to help the victim.
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