By Rachel Uranga | LA Times
When a homeless man with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus, careened into several cars and crashed into the Ritz Carlton last March, Metro’s top security officer at the time, Gina Osborn, called Metro Chief Executive Stephanie Wiggins. It was around midnight and there was no answer. She texted her and then called Wiggins’ top aide, Nicole Englund.
“This bus just got hijacked, I’m giving you all the details,” she said.
Startled, Englund offered to call Wiggins herself. By the next day, Osborn said, she hadn’t heard back from either of them.
This behind-the-scenes glimpse of the hijacking is described in a lawsuit filed this week, alleging that Osborn later was wrongfully terminated for raising concerns about how law enforcement agencies were patrolling the Metro system. The complaint lays bare the tension between Osborn and Wiggins at a time when public safety had become the agency’s most public problem.
Read more at: LA Times
