I wanted to post an incident that happened to me on the Green Line last Wednesday on my way home from downtown.
I was playing a game on my iPhone and was totally in the zone and not paying attention like I probably should have been. All of the sudden I was startled by a kid, black male, around 16-23 that snatched my phone right out of my hands. By the time I realized what was going on, he had gotten behind about 5 others and they had barricaded themselves between the metal dividers that are by the doors and they were all puffing up and acting like they were going to start hitting everyone. Another girl was yelling at them to give back her phone and then I realized that they were hitting multiple targets and that it was probably useless to do anything. That's when her boyfriend started to call 911 from his phone and was punished for doing so. They started beating on him...knocking the phone from his hands and hitting him and shoving him. He started bleeding profusely and no-one was helping, including myself. I just couldn't help to think about if they had knives or guns, so I did nothing. The guy that was being assaulted ended up retaliating and started to get some punches in for himself and started grabbing onto one of them as the doors were opening (Laramie Stop). All the other offenders fled as soon as the doors opened, but Miles held onto his guy. Eventually, he got away. The conductor called the police and they were there within minutes. They caught 2 guys and had me identify them right away and one of them was the guy that Miles had until he squirmed away, so I fingered him and then I spent the rest of the night at the Madison police station. Miles went to the hospital and received 20 staples in his head.
I just want to make everyone aware that this stuff is going on. Please be careful on the trains and keep your personal belongings hidden so you don't ever have to go through this. Stay alert of your surrounding and report any suspicious behaviors. The police seemed to know all these guys and had several suspects rounded up by the end of the night. So this must be happening a lot. It seemed to me that these punks live real close to the Laramie stop so they can get back home before the police can catch them. So again please be careful and be alert on the Green Line. Don't let your guard down as I did.
Sincerely,
Monte Summers
135 S Taylor
