Summary

King County Executive Dow Constantine today condemned the brutal assault of a Metro Transit operator over the weekend:

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King County Executive Dow Constantine today condemned the brutal assault of a Metro Transit operator over the weekend:

"On behalf of all those who work for King County Metro Transit, I am deeply saddened by the brutal criminal assault of one of our operators during the early morning hours of Jan 23. Our thoughts and prayers go out to both the transit operator and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery.

"This was a senseless act of violence and one we hope will result in convictions for those who committed this violent crime. I would like to thank the King County Transit Police and officers from Tukwila, SeaTac and Sound Transit Police for their quick action in apprehending suspects within hours of the assault. Immediately following the incident a Metro supervisor arrived at the hospital to help coordinate support for the injured operator.

"Once the police investigation of this incident is complete, I have asked Metro Transit to conduct its own review so we can determine what more can be done to improve the safety of our system.

"The message must be clear: under state law, any act of violence against a bus operator is a felony crime. We will be closely watching how the criminal cases resulting from this assault unfold. I hope the criminal justice system sends a strong message that criminals found guilty of a felony assault such as this are dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

"Public and employee safety is and will always be Metro Transit's number one priority. Over the past year we've seen assaults against operators drop by 19.3 percent. This reduction reflects expansion of Metro's Transit Police Unit over the past several years. We now have a transit police force of 68 commissioned officers, the size of some city police departments in the region. And we have gone to great lengths to establish partnerships with other police departments in the county so we can respond as quickly as possible whenever there is an incident on a Metro bus. The response we saw Saturday morning was an example of that strong coordinated relationship.

"As we have all witnessed in recent weeks, this is a community that will not stand by and condone senseless crimes against public servants who are so dedicated to doing their jobs each and every day."