After one too many assaults on Designated Driver Shuttle employees, ASUO Vice President Mitra Anoushiravani invited DDS to set up operations in the ASUO Executive office Thursday.
But Anoushiravani said the move is only temporary as DDS looks for a permanent home elsewhere in the EMU.
The vice president made the decision after an incident early Tuesday morning, when a DDS dispatcher had a frightening encounter with an unidentified male who punched a hole through the window of the DDS front door. He then stared at the dispatcher before walking away. After the incident, DDS co-directors decided it was time to move.
“Recent events just transpired to the point where it just is unsafe for us to be there,” said Brian Wise, DDS co-director.
The dispatcher who worked Tuesday morning, who requested not to have her name used in this story, said she was alone in the office and was talking on the dispatch radio when she heard a loud noise. She then realized that someone had broken the door’s window, which is on an exit in the small office on the EMU’s south side.
“It scared me so much that I didn’t move,” she said. “All I saw was a guy standing there in light colored pants. He stood there for what seemed like a really long time.”
Wise, who was driving Sunday, said a passenger pulled a gun on him and the DDS navigator when he wanted to be let out. Wise said the individual was extremely intoxicated and barely able to walk.
“He got really angry and he fell over a couple times,” he said.
Wise said he pulled over, let the passenger out and called the office of public safety. DDS records passengers’ names and addresses, of all riders and was able to provide that information to OPS and Eugene Police.
“Just all in all, it’s been a pretty bad week,” Wise said. “We’ve had some pretty serious stuff happen.”
He said that situations in which DDS employees have to break up fights, ask people to leave the vans or just deal with belligerently drunk passengers are not uncommon.
“I don’t feel like a lot of the student body understands what we do,” Wise said.
But Tuesday night’s incident won’t stop the dispatcher who was in the DDS office from working with the shuttle service, but she might bring some protection to work the next time she has to dispatch at night.
“She’s still working and she is pretty clear about it,” Wise said. “I admire her for this.”
Wise said DDS employees are hoping to find a student group that would be willing to share its space with the shuttle. He said he hopes to find a more permanent solution within a month.