A highly disturbing occurrence is said to have occurred aboard a Philadelphia train in October 2021. On Wednesday evening, a lady was allegedly sexually attacked on a public transportation train. The most alarming aspect of the incident is that there were multiple witnesses present when the attack occurred. Not only did they not act, but several were allegedly filming the rape as it happened.
The alleged rape occurred on the Market-Frankford Line of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA issued a statement on the event, calling it a “horrific criminal crime,” and adding that other passengers on the train witnessed the assault but did not notify police.
RAPE INVESTIGATION: Train riders held up phones as woman was raped, SEPTA police say A man charged with raping a woman on a commuter train just outside of Philadelphia harassed her for more than 40 minutes while multiple people held up their phones to seemingly record the assault without intervening, authorities said. More than two dozen train stops passed as the man harassed, groped and eventually raped the woman, the police chief for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said at a news conference Monday. Police do not believe a single witness on the train dialed 911. They are investigating whether some bystanders filmed the assault. Both the man and woman got on the train at the same stop Wednesday night in North Philadelphia. Officers pulled the man off of the woman at the last stop. They responded within about three minutes of a 911 call from a transportation authority employee, authorities said.
Posted by Addy Adams on Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Officials are perplexed that this scenario could happen with other people around. There were other passengers on the train who observed this heinous assault, and it might have been prevented sooner if a rider had phoned 911, SEPTA added. SEPTA encourages anybody who witnesses a crime or a potentially hazardous circumstance to report it. Anyone who witnesses an emergency should dial 911 instantly.
According to Andrew Busch, a SEPTA representative, an employee ultimately phoned police to report that “something wasn’t right.”
Busch stated, when the SEPTA employee boarded the train and witnessed the attack, he quickly dialed 911. SEPTA Transit Police responded immediately, and an officer boarded the train when it reached the 69th Street Transportation Center.
According to reports, the male attempted to start up a discussion with the woman, who was uninterested. He then reportedly took her clothes off and assaulted her.
Fiston M. Ngoy, 35, was named as the suspect. Ngoy was arraigned on preliminary accusations of rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, and other offenses.
SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel III stated that police received “relatively few” notifications concerning the event. Only one call was actually recorded. Yet, it does not appear to be the case in terms of how many individuals were aware of the event. When questioned if anybody was filming, the officer replied, he can tell that individuals were pointing their phones up in the direction of this woman being assaulted.
The issue of why individuals stood by and did nothing is difficult to escape. It’s possible that passengers were concerned for their personal safety, but why wouldn’t there have been more calls to police on a full train?
Officials have now stated that individuals who reportedly videotaped the incident may face prosecution.
“We live in a society where everything is recorded on camera, and this may sometimes be valuable for police in their investigations,” said Alex Piquero, a criminologist and sociology professor at the University of Miami, to CNN. “However, it genuinely concerns me when a lady is abused and no one does anything.”
