February 13, 2008
Crazy Story of Metro Robbery
WJLA reported yesterday on a pretty wild story of a teenager being robbed at gunpoint and then stabbed on a Blue line train two weeks ago. The teen told the news channel that while on a train leaving the Largo Station he was first held at gunpoint, robbed of his cell phone, iPod and wallet, and then stabbed in the thigh -- all the while with people getting off and on the same train car, and that no one would help him despite his pleas.
"I think people on the metro didn't do anything to help me cause they were afraid that it would probably happen to them." He explained. "It was kind of like they just didn't care they didn't want it to happen to them let it happen to someone else."The teen also said a Metro Transit Police officer was in the train car next to his and did not come to his aid.Two weeks later the stab wound they inflicted still makes it hard for him to walk.
If the victim's story is true, it's pretty damned upsetting, but we're having a hard time making heads or tails of his claims. How many people were actually on the same train car? Did none of them actually report the crime to a station manager themselves once they exited the train? Crime on Metro is scary, but how could absolutely no one try to help this kid? The story also quotes unnamed Metro employees as saying they aren't surprised something like this happened. What would you do if you saw something like this happening on a Metro train?
Photo by afagen
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I say clone Charles Bronson and stick each one on metro cars and I gurantee a massive drop in Metro crimes...Hell lets take it further and clone an army like star wars and drop them off in Iraq.
What would you do if you saw something like this happening on a Metro train?
Stop taking Metro?
I can put up with delays and the price hikes and the rudeness. But if I'm going to be trapped underground with armed a**holes who stab people, and Transit Police Officers who don't do jack s**t, and unnamed sources who think this is the norm, WMATA can go f**k themselves with a white hot stick. I'll take my chances in the gridlock, thank you. That's me you see bobbing his head, rocking out to Big Star and watching porn in my Nissan Apocalypse.
Everybody hates on VA, but one of the small comforts when riding metro south of the Potomac is it's usually packed with plenty of miltary and LEO types, and you know a fair portion of them are armed. Plus you never know if that sweet old lady you're sitting next to has something in her purse.
Everybody hates on VA, but one of the small comforts when riding metro south of the Potomac is it's usually packed with plenty of miltary and LEO types, and you know a fair portion of them are armed. Plus you never know if that sweet old lady you're sitting next to has something in her purse.
people are stupid, scared, apathetic, and jaded. nonetheless, its disheartening that no one stopped to help this guy.
How long until someone goes all Bernie Goetz on some half-ass metro punk?
One can't condemn vigilante justice if the actual police aren't doing shit.
Something just seems really fish about this story.
First - the people robbing the guy stayed on the train. It seems to me that if I was robbing someone, I would want to leave the scene of the crime immediately.
Second - No one did anything AFTER the robbers got off the train? He says nothing at all. I cant imagine a situation where not even one person stops for help, especially if they are bleeding and calling for help.
Third - He was probably robbed and may have been held at gunpoint. But, did the other passengers even know at the time. If it was done discretely, then it is very obvious that other passengers would be unaware. Had I noticed this situation, I would perhaps get off of the train and call 911 immediately.
I definitely believe some of the incident, but I have a hard time believe it all.
i think everyone is forgetting the fact that the robber had a gun. people are a bit reluctant to shout "help help! theif' when the guy is right there with a loaded pistol. i'm not saying it's right what happened, but i certainly believe what the guy is saying.
I'll try and find it, but Malcolm Gladwell wrote about crime and the reluctance of groups to help.
Apparently if you single someone out, like "hey you in the green shirt and polka-dot tie" and ask for their help, they are more responsive.
Not saying that if stabbed, that's what you should be thinking... but it's what I've read.
The best thing to do, short of Bronson-fu, would be for a bystander to get out and the next station and prevent the doors from closing, trapping the gunman until police could arrive. Or maybe corning him will just make him desperate. Bronson is our only hope.
I'm not saying it didn't happen, but as it's presented it sounds fishy to me.
If I were on a Metro train, and robbers armed with a gun and a knife were robbing and torturing another passenger, who was screaming for help and bleeding copiously, the first thing I would do would be -- get off the freaking train at the next stop.
It's one thing for someone in the car not to call 911 (I for one couldn't, thank you very much Verizon) or hit the emergency button or intervene in person, for fear of being shot or stabbed. But ignoring the drama for four Metro stops? That's not "I don't want to get involved," that's "too dumb to be afraid I might be next" territory, which can be found conveniently next to "too dumb to live."
it's called bystander effect. the more people in a crowd, the less likely any will be to help someone, even if the person is bleeding and screaming (anyone remember Kitty Genovese?). i studied this phenomenon in school and now purposely practice helping in small ways when i can, so as to train myself for the one time it might really matter. for instance, a woman fell on the ice across the street from me last night; even though she got back up, i made myself ask her if she was all right to walk or needed a ride (we'd been in line at the polling center together, so it felt safe).
in a crowd situation, singling someone out and giving specific instructions is definitely the way to go, but that assumes that you have your wits about you, which a teen being held at gunpoint might not.
why not tell anyone after you get off the train? people not helping after the fact is usually out of guilt for not having helped during the incident. you go tell the station manager, and now not only did you not help, but you're admitting that you didn't help.
"It's one thing for someone in the car not to call 911 (I for one couldn't, thank you very much Verizon)"
No, you could. Wireless 911 will use any network, even if your phone says no signal or is not activated (obviously, if there truly is no signal, you're screwed).
I once witnessed a batshit crazy homeless dude verbally assault someone a seemingly innocent woman by-stander, making her cower in her seat and vocally sob.
I was at the far end of a crowded car and a larger guy ran the length of the car, once it stopped, to get the homeless dude to back off. I got off the car and told the conductor. The train stayed at the station until the Metro cops arrived.
I'm not so sure that there would be as rapid an intervention if there were weapons involved.
I agree with fist that somebody is going to pull a Bernie Goetz on Metro sooner or later, primarily because the Metro PD seems more interested in checking out booty on the Metro Center platforms than actually stopping criminals.
That is, unless said law breakers are eating french fries and under 15 years old....
I'd have to go with Cminus. This sounds a bit incredible. But I guess it's possible. Still, where the hell did they they find that guy who half expects to get assaulted on his commute?
The one time in my life I witnessed a robbery, I did exactly this:
I stopped and screamed at the top of my lungs "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET OFF HIM! STOP THAT!" while walking towards the incident. This caused other people to take notice or at least acknowledge it and to do the same. The attacker, realizing a mob was about to descend on him, quickly ran off. No one bothered follow.
Don't know how well it would work on a train, though.
mrmoonpie--i know it's not the "whole apartment building stood by and did nothing" story, but several of her neighbors did in fact hear her screams, see her killer, etc., and either dismissed it or took minutes to call 911. there's a grain of truth in the story, it just got blown up.
more importantly, it calls attention to a phenomenon many of us have witnessed. i was once tackled by a man in public, in front of about 10 strangers, none of whom helped me even in the face of my screaming "get him off me!" i was lucky compared to that woman in St. Paul last year who was raped in her hallway. we can talk about the different cultural influences on her neighbors' behavior, but i think part of it is basic to us as humans.
these are anecdotes, but i think we all admit that people are afraid to help, for many reasons, and they will find ways to avoid it whenever possible. we don't like to put ourselves on the line for others, especially if the guy across the way is bigger or stronger-looking or i'm late for a meeting. these things can be changed, but DC's not exactly an environment that expects or supports altruism--or god forbid, anyone looking up from their paper on the metro.
whether this kid is telling the truth, exaggerating, or flat-out lying, maybe the hype will make us more likely to help each other next time.
Wouldn't this also be an appropriate time to push one of those red buttons to contact the train operator? I know we've heard stories of them not working or getting no response, but I feel like it's at least worth a try. And easy for someone to do even if they're too scared to do anything else.
boohoohoo you all can just go bust a nut in the sky
i believe this because the one time (thankfully so far) i have witnessed a mugging in dc was about a year and a half ago as i was leaving the metro at union station out the mass ave exit. it was about 8:30 or 9 and there was a huge crowd coming up the escalator into the very well lit outside part. i was with my girl friend and as we got to the top there was a big commotion, looking around a guy was being held with a knife to his throat by a masked man next to one of the posts and a huge crowd was standing watching, the guy with the knife had 3 or 4 friends also with knives watching the crowd. no one in the crowd even had their cell phone out, i immediately took mine out and dialed 911, but, truthfully, i didn't push send because no one else was doing anything and my first thought was maybe this was a joke. after 15 seconds the guys took the man's wallet and ran off, the crowd dispersed, and i was the only person who went up to see if the guy was alright. we called the cops and i stayed with him until they came. he just had a scrape on his neck and they only got the 5 bucks in his wallet.
because of this experience, i believe this story, even the part about no one helping him after the fact. i think the larger the crowd the more people think someone else will help.
It puzzles me that this story is so hard for people to believe. I see people ignoring someone who obviously needs help nearly everyday on the Metro. And I mean little things like giving up their seat for a pregnant woman.
Wasn't it just a couple of months ago a woman was harassed and attacked on the Orange line and the other people in the car just sat there? I think it finally took a brave teenage girl to come to her aid. These stories make me feel ashamed. But, honestly, I don't think a lot of people in this town have that same reaction.
yes hard to believe the events occurred as described. easy today to say we each would have helped somehow if we were there....
i think this 'bystander effect' is a symptom of another problem, an increasingly common lifestyle philosophy. i try not to live passively, but we are all guilty of at least once having thought,
"if it doesn't affect me, it doesn't effect me."
"No, you could. Wireless 911 will use any network, even if your phone says no signal or is not activated (obviously, if there truly is no signal, you're screwed)."
Actually I thought about this again on the way home.. I'm not sure if you could use a T-Mobile (or other GSM) phone in the tunnels, even for a 911 call, since Verizon's network is CDMA.
I had to call 911 from a metro platform once and I have Verizon. The operator said that I was breaking up. I had to hang up, run outside and then call from above ground.
It doesnt always work.
on the cell phone 911 issue...
-if you have verizon it will work. if you have sprint/nextel, it may work.
-if you have t-mobile or at&t (cingular), it won't work.
different networks, different hardware.
also, if you've ever had to use the red button in a metro car, they're actually even more useless than in person. imagine the ignorance of a metro worker, combined with the mcdonald's drive thru speaker, and the fact that they know you can't see them. they just don't care.
On that note, why is the Verizon service so shitty in the tunnels and on the platforms?
-if you have verizon it will work. if you have sprint/nextel, it may work.
-if you have t-mobile or at&t (cingular), it won't work.
I have AT&T, so it appears I can stand by my original statement.
That attack was actually on the Green Line, but it doesn't make what went on with it any less senseless.
I posted the link to "Don't Be Silent" in another DCist post about rowdy kids trying to fight me yesterday on my way to work and no one did a thing. This is indeed a Genovese/bystander sydrome society.
I meant syndrome in my previous post, because I should be able to spell!