Threatening a female passenger aboard a North Shore bus earned one commuter 68 days in jail.
Dale Reinhardt was riding a bus on Marine Drive in July when brown liquid leaked from a bag he was carrying, dripping onto a woman's leg. After a brief dispute in which the bus driver called transit security, Reinhardt told the woman: "Listen, bitch; I'm going to find out where you live and I'm going to kill you and your family."
Reinhardt left the bus shortly after. The passenger reported the threat to police, who arrested Reinhardt a few days later after finding him sleeping in an alley behind the Harvest Project on Roosevelt Crescent in North Vancouver.
After entering a guilty plea, Reinhardt downplayed the threat. "People say that to me all the time and I'm still alive, obviously," he said. "I don't know her family. I don't even know her."
Judge Bryce Dyer sentenced Reinhardt to time served, which amounted to 68 days, and put him on probation for 18 months.
Reinhardt was contentious, telling the judge he was overpaid. "I want out of this courtroom anyway because you guys are all corrupt," he said.
The courtroom was packed with North Shore bus drivers, many of whom spoke outside the court of personal encounters with
Reinhardt. Drivers have documented 117 incidents - ranging from assault to threats - with Reinhardt, according to Unifor Local 111 vicepresident Raj Purewal. Purewal said he hoped the sentence would include a transit ban.
Noting that Reinhardt would be dependent on transit for his rehabilitation, which includes mental health treatment in Vancouver, Dyer decided against a transit ban.
If the threat had been said he would have viewed the matter in a very different light. Drivers are "sitting ducks," according to Dyer, who said any attack would warrant a severe penalty.
The sentence includes a weapons ban, which was good news for Unifor union representative Ian Birrell.
"Sometimes he'll show a knife," Birrell said.
Reinhardt has been convicted for assault and for possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Birrell praised the judge for a fair sentence. "It's nice that we were heard, even though we were silent," he said. "I would hope Mr. Reinhardt takes to heart that if he threatens a driver there will be. .. severe consequences."
Speaking outside of court, one bus driver said he expected to see Reinhardt on his bus that afternoon.
Besides the charge of uttering threats, Reinhardt was also accused of possession of stolen licence plates. A North Vancouver RCMP constable spotted two Ontario licence plates in Reinhardt's shopping cart. The plates were linked to a trade-in car owned by Destination Chrysler. After entering a guilty plea, Reinhardt said he fished the plates out of a dumpster for their value as scrap metal.
Dyer had problems with proceeding following Reinhardt's account, which he said could amount to reasonable doubt.
Despite Reinhardt's guilty plea, Crown ultimately decided to stay the charges.
