Photo by Adam Gerard

Metro Transit Police officers arrested a female teenager today, citing her alleged involvement in an assault and robbery on a Green Line train. The incident occurred in November, and detectives identified the 15-year-old using Metro’s digital surveillance systems, along with victim and witness interviews.

Transit police issued a Juvenile Custody Order yesterday, and the youth was arrested “without incident” this morning at her Northeast home, according to a release. She is charged with felony assault and robbery.

According to the release, the incident happened as follows:

It is alleged that the respondent was with a group of other juveniles aboard the train at approximately 1:16 a.m. As the train traveled between Fort Totten and Shaw-Howard stations, the group surrounded and began to harass a 14-year-old male passenger. Police allege that the juvenile respondent is the person responsible for first mocking, then violently kicking and punching an adult male victim who attempted to intervene on behalf of the 14 year old.

After the assault, the adult victim was transported to a hospital for treatment.

A number of violent Metro assaults made headlines last year, including an incident where someone punched and spit on a 69-year-old man at the top of an escalator bank at the Eastern Market Metro station in April, an incident where a man punched a Green Line passenger in June (the assault was recorded and viewed more than 2.5 million in 24 hours), and the fatal stabbing of a former congressional intern on a Red Line train in July.

As a result of that murder, the volunteer group D.C. Guardian Angels joined transit police in patrolling the NoMa­-Galludet University and Rhode Island Metro stations as well as the Metropolitan Branch Trail. And after an incident in December that left on Red Line passenger with a broken jaw, the group ramped up its patrol.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s “Safer Stronger D.C.” legislation would increase penalties for violent crimes committed on public transportation.