A primary school teacher has described being shoved in front of a double-decker bus by a teenage boy after she told him off for spitting at her niece.
Geraldine Lynne said she was left lying in the middle of Oxford Street, London, in the path of the vehicle after she confronted a boy and a girl outside a River Island store at 2.45pm on Saturday 15 June.
The Metropolitan Police has released an image of the boy today, which was taken by Ms Lynne moments before he attacked her and fled into Oxford Circus Tube station.
Ms Lynne said she and her niece were shopping when the boy and girl repeatedly stepped on her niece’s shoe heels.
“My niece turned round and asked them to stop and I told the two teens to walk in front of us. I assumed it was an accident,” Ms Lynne told the Evening Standard.
“A few moments later, I heard them say, ‘Three, two, one’ and with that he spat at my niece. I was really shocked.”
After she approached the boy to take a photo of him, Ms Lynne said he became “aggressive” and pushed her with both hands in front of a bus, which – fortunately for her – had stopped in traffic.
“I’m horrified to consider what might’ve happened if a 12-and-a-half tonne bus had run over me,” she said.
“It’s just so violent … it was frightening to think one small incident can escalate into being pushed in front of a bus.”
Police are appealing for anyone who recognises the suspect, who was thought to be wearing a blue Nike sweatshirt and had a silver stud in his right ear, to contact them on 101 and quote CAD4070/15Jun.
Alternatively, anyone who recognises him can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
