Injured bus passenger wants culprit caught

Jenna Taylor felt "a whole heap of pain and suddenly I was on the other side of the bus". Picture / Brett Phibbs

The bus passenger struck by a lump of concrete on Wednesday night believes she was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

But 17-year-old Jenna Taylor still wants the culprit - somebody she thinks was probably put up for a dare - caught.

The Onehunga student was one of several passengers on the Stagecoach bus travelling along Owairaka Ave in Mt Albert when a piece of concrete smashed through a window and knocked her unconscious.

"I didn't actually know what had happened," she said yesterday.

"I knew something hit my head but I didn't know where it came from or what it was.

"There was a whole heap of pain and suddenly I was on the other side of the bus. Someone was holding something to my head. I was bleeding."

Driver Harinder Singh tended to Ms Taylor.

Passenger Todd Campbell tried to find the culprits. "I went running along in the direction of the bush and went straight in there," he said.

"I yelled, 'Come out, you bastards', but there was nothing, not even a movement."

A police dog managed to find a scent along the footpath, where a youth in his late teens had been seen running. But it lost the scent.

Mr Campbell said it was only as he returned to the bus that he realised someone had been injured.

"I felt so bad, but my first instinct was to run outside and see who did this. I didn't realise someone had been smacked in the head."

Mr Campbell and others at the scene, including police, are amazed that the incident occurred so soon after a young Taupo man was killed by a similar act of stupidity on the Southern Motorway.

Chris Currie died last Friday when a 8kg slab of concrete crashed through his car windscreen.

A 14-year-old schoolboy has been charged with murder.

Since Mr Currie's death, numerous motorists and transport operators have complained about the frequency of people throwing objects at moving vehicles.

Toll Rail spokeswoman Sue Foley said stones were thrown at trains every week, usually at night. The stones often smashed windows.

One train driver had been injured and drivers in some parts of the country wore safety goggles to protect their eyes from the glass.

Like Stagecoach, Toll Rail fears it is only a matter of time before one of its drivers or passengers is more seriously injured.

Stagecoach spokesman Russell Turnbull said there had been at least two incidents on Mt Roskill buses this month.

South Auckland and Eastern buses also regularly experience similar problems.

A young person was injured on the arm this year when an object was thrown through a window.

Mr Turnbull said Stagecoach had been looking at how it could improve security but there was little the company could do to prevent objects being thrown at buses.

He said the company planned to contact Ms Taylor to see if she was okay and if there was anything it could do to help her.

When asked how she now felt about riding buses, Ms Taylor said she was "definitely not sitting next to a window again".

She wanted to thank all the people who helped her on Wednesday night.

* Avondale police want to hear from anyone who saw the incident or has information on the culprits. Phone (09) 820-5700