True Crime
Tonight, the man on the subway train did not get away with my friend K's bag.
We were riding home around 6 pm on a downtown D express train when it stopped at 145th Street station and sat on the platform with the doors open waiting for a local to come and make the connection. There were about a dozen other people in the car. A man boarded the car, mumbling to himself and moving rather aggressively, and began opening windows in the train car. When he got by us, K said, "Please don't do that," and stood back up to close the window.
The muttering man moved down the car, opening more windows, and another man spoke up as well, saying, "Leave the windows closed, we need the air conditioning." The testorone started to flow and soon the second man was on his feet as the argument got more heated. The window-opener was getting more agitated, pacing up and down the car. When he opened our window again, K again got up and closed it, then sat back down. This set him off, and he thumped the back of her seat and started to threaten her verbally. Then he reached across her and grabbed the straps of her computer tote bag that was over her forearm. She said "no!" forcefully and pulled the bag back with both hands, and then the other man started taunting the harasser to distract her attention.
The train was still sitting with the doors open and I said, "K, let's move to the next car." She was kind of frozen then and the two men continued arguing. The second man then stepped halfway out of the car and began to call for the police. I nudged K again, and while the harasser was distracted, we moved to the next car.
I don't often get off at that station, so I did not realize that there was an office of the transit police right inside the station. Apparently the train conductor called upstairs and the cops arrived in another minute or two. When we heard them, we came back outside just as they were cuffing the harasser. The other passengers hailed us, "There's the lady that he tried to rob!"
The harasser was jerking and cursing as the police led him away, and seven of us all told went up to the office to give our statements. Since K was the principal victim, she had to stay longer and be interviewed. They dismissed the rest of us once we had given them our personal information and a brief statement of what we saw. I stayed with K while they interviewed her. The whole time we could hear the window-opener yelling from his cell. By the time we were through, they had processed his information and found out that he had once been arrested for murder.
The police offered us a ride home in a cruiser, but nobody was really ready to take us, so we got back on the train and came downtown. K was a lot more shaken up after the fact, I think especially after she realized that the guy had a really violent background. I took her out for dinner and a couple of drinks.
It was a scary episode, but also reaffirming. The other citizens were quite indignant about what happened, and took steps to protect K and keep the guy busy and call the police. And the police were responsive and polite. I am not used to thinking of calling the police, even when it is clearly a crime or attempted crime. If it had been just me, I probably would have just tried to stay out of his way and move to another car. I'm glad that someone else had the good sense to make it official and report this knucklehead and get him out of the picture, at least for one night. I wonder if it will go to trial.
We were riding home around 6 pm on a downtown D express train when it stopped at 145th Street station and sat on the platform with the doors open waiting for a local to come and make the connection. There were about a dozen other people in the car. A man boarded the car, mumbling to himself and moving rather aggressively, and began opening windows in the train car. When he got by us, K said, "Please don't do that," and stood back up to close the window.
The muttering man moved down the car, opening more windows, and another man spoke up as well, saying, "Leave the windows closed, we need the air conditioning." The testorone started to flow and soon the second man was on his feet as the argument got more heated. The window-opener was getting more agitated, pacing up and down the car. When he opened our window again, K again got up and closed it, then sat back down. This set him off, and he thumped the back of her seat and started to threaten her verbally. Then he reached across her and grabbed the straps of her computer tote bag that was over her forearm. She said "no!" forcefully and pulled the bag back with both hands, and then the other man started taunting the harasser to distract her attention.
The train was still sitting with the doors open and I said, "K, let's move to the next car." She was kind of frozen then and the two men continued arguing. The second man then stepped halfway out of the car and began to call for the police. I nudged K again, and while the harasser was distracted, we moved to the next car.
I don't often get off at that station, so I did not realize that there was an office of the transit police right inside the station. Apparently the train conductor called upstairs and the cops arrived in another minute or two. When we heard them, we came back outside just as they were cuffing the harasser. The other passengers hailed us, "There's the lady that he tried to rob!"
The harasser was jerking and cursing as the police led him away, and seven of us all told went up to the office to give our statements. Since K was the principal victim, she had to stay longer and be interviewed. They dismissed the rest of us once we had given them our personal information and a brief statement of what we saw. I stayed with K while they interviewed her. The whole time we could hear the window-opener yelling from his cell. By the time we were through, they had processed his information and found out that he had once been arrested for murder.
The police offered us a ride home in a cruiser, but nobody was really ready to take us, so we got back on the train and came downtown. K was a lot more shaken up after the fact, I think especially after she realized that the guy had a really violent background. I took her out for dinner and a couple of drinks.
It was a scary episode, but also reaffirming. The other citizens were quite indignant about what happened, and took steps to protect K and keep the guy busy and call the police. And the police were responsive and polite. I am not used to thinking of calling the police, even when it is clearly a crime or attempted crime. If it had been just me, I probably would have just tried to stay out of his way and move to another car. I'm glad that someone else had the good sense to make it official and report this knucklehead and get him out of the picture, at least for one night. I wonder if it will go to trial.