Greyhound drivers searching carry-on bags

CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Some Canadian Greyhound bus drivers have begun searching carry-on bags after last month's beheading of a passenger with a machete, their union said.

Jim Higgs, president of Local 1374 of the Amalgamated Transit Union told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., in Calgary, Alberta, that drivers have the right to inspect bags and, at their discretion, order them stowed in the cargo compartment.

"They have broad ability to restrict or deny carry-ons," he said, although passengers may keep medicines and baby-care items.

The changes are a result of a July 30 incident in Manitoba when 20-year-old Tim McLean was stabbed and slashed with a machete before he was beheaded.

Higgs said since the attack, searches of carry-on bags by drivers have turned up knives and drugs in Edmonton, Alberta.

Vincent Li, 40, was charged with second-degree murder in the attack on McLean and ordered to undergo psychiatric assessment, the report said.