TTC bus operator charged with impaired driving

TTC bus operator Zvi Domb, 47, sits in the back of a TTC supervisor's car after being released from police custody. He has been charged with impaired driving. (JOHN HANLEY/Special to the Sun)

A TTC bus driver has been charged with impaired driving.

Toronto Police found the driver pulled over and sitting in the driver’s seat of his bus on Finch Ave. W., just west of Senlac Rd., Wednesday around 6:41 p.m., Toronto Police Const. Hugh Smith said.

"The citizen was basically concerned this driver was impaired,” Smith said.

Smith said he didn’t know whether the caller had been riding on the bus or was watching it from another vehicle.

“The only person on bus was the driver at that point there were no passengers,” Smith said.

Officers from 32 Division did a standardized field sobriety test and “concluded there was enough evidence to place the gentlemen under arrest for impaired,” Smith said.

The driver was taken to Toronto Police traffic services where a technician trained to recognize signs of impairment from drugs examined him and was provided with a urine sample, he said.

“(The driver) was cooperative with the investigation,” Smith said.

Zvi Domb, 47, is charged with impaired driving. He was released and is expected to appear in court on June 24.

Smith said Domb was placed under one condition, he is prohibited from driving until his court date.

Police did not say which type of drug allegedly impaired the driver.

An impaired driving charge involving drugs could include any type of drug from a prescribed drug up to a restricted drug.

“A lot of people don’t realize you can be charge for common over the counter drugs too,” Smith said. “The message we want to get out there is that it is illegal to operate any motor vehicle with any type of drug that will cause impairment.”

ATU Local 113 President Bob Kinnear issued a statement Thursday defending the driver and stressing it was due to complications from a doctor prescribed drug.

"This operator was not impaired due to alcohol or illegal drugs," Kinnear stated. "He was apparently affected by doctor-prescribed medication he had been taking for several months.

"He had not been advised that his medication might cause impairment."

Kinnear said there was "no prior indication of impairment from the medication."

The union said a medical investigation is now underway to determine the nature and cause of the impairment.

"No member of the public was affected by this incident," Kinnear said. "As it involves a medical condition, we ask that the media respect his privacy pending his court appearance."

This is the second TTC driver to be taken off the road by police this year.

In March, passengers called the cops when they were troubled by a driver’s behaviour.

She was issued a licence suspension after hitting the warning range during her breathalyzer test, police said.