Vancouver’s transit police are investigating after a woman alleged a fellow passenger took voyeuristic photos of her on a city bus.
Kezia Addison said she was riding a bus downtown on Wednesday when she heard the sound of a camera clicking.
“That sort of drew my attention from the window to the passenger sitting sort of in front of me and I found a camera pointed directly at my knees,” she told CTV Vancouver on Monday.
The woman said it took her a few moments to process what she just witnessed.
“I was so shocked at first,” Addison said. “It felt like a minute, probably only a few seconds, for me to process what happened.”
Addison said she confronted the man sitting in front of her about the alleged photos, but he denied it and showed her a blank screen on his iPhone instead.
In response, Addison used her phone to snap a photo of the man.
“I’m surprised that I reacted the way that I did,” she said. “I’m proud that I did, but I said to him right away, ‘You just took a photograph of me. You can’t take photographs of me.’”
After a co-worker encouraged her, Addison filed a police report. She said she received a prompt and supportive response from a Metro Vancouver Transit Officer soon after she filed the report.
“I think we're very aware of how difficult this can be for individuals to report," Sgt. Clint Hampton, a media relations officer for Metro Vancouver Transit Police, said. "I'm happy to hear that she did report the incident so we can start our investigation."
Addison said she’s sharing her story to remind others to be vigilant when they’re in public.
“I was never conscious of this before. I wouldn’t have thought that this would have happened to me or even in Vancouver,” she said.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police encourages anyone who suspects they’ve been the victim of voyeurism on public transit to report the incident by calling police or texting a dispatcher at 87-77-77.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Penny Daflos
