Man arrested for raping a woman on a SEPTA train while other riders failed to intervene, authorities say
Police superintendent says victim is an 'unbelievably strong woman'
(CNN) — A man was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on a SEPTA train in Philadelphia last week, even as a number of witnesses failed to stop the incident or call police, authorities said.
The alleged rape occurred on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line last Wednesday night and was a "horrendous criminal act," SEPTA said in a statement. The public transit authority said other people on the train saw the incident and did not alert authorities.
"There were other people on the train who witnessed this horrific act, and it may have been stopped sooner if a rider called 911," SEPTA said. "SEPTA urges anyone who observes a crime being committed or any dangerous situation occurring to report it. Anyone witnessing an emergency should immediately call 911."
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said an employee in the vicinity of the incident as the train went past called police to report that "something wasn't right."
"The SEPTA employee boarded the train and saw the assault in progress and immediately called 911. That prompted an immediate response by SEPTA Transit Police, and an officer boarded the train when it arrived at the 69th Street Transportation Center," Busch said in a statement. "The officer located the suspect and the victim, and took the suspect into custody."
The Upper Darby Township Police took the lead on the case because they have a Special Victims Unit, he said.
The suspect was identified as Fiston M. Ngoy, 35, who had preliminary arraignment last Thursday on charges of rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and more, according to court documents.
He is being held at Delaware County Prison on 10% of $180,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for next Monday, the documents state. CNN has not been able to reach Ngoy for comment.
Upper Darby Police superintendent Tim Bernhardt said the suspect did not know the victim, whom he praised for coming forward, according to CNN affiliate WPVI.
"Unbelievably strong woman. She really is. She came forward, she provided a lot of information. She's on the mend, and hopefully she will get through this," he told WPVI.
The entire incident was captured on video surveillance, and Bernhardt said investigators plan to go through the video to understand the incident, as well as what other SEPTA riders were doing.
"There were a lot of people, in my opinion, that should have intervened. Somebody should have done something," Bernhardt said.
An entire train car full of sociopaths? Seems statistically unlikely. How could all these people do nothing?!
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
I bet the video shows everybody sitting around looking at their cell phones while this was going on. Being there and not acting in any way to stop the rape is nearly as bad as participating or covering for the rapist. It's disgusting and everybody who was aware of what was happening should be prosecutable.
Of course, that won't happen. Those people would no doubt fight for the right to be incredibly selfish and uncaring assholes.
We don't know the real story yet. The infamous Kitty Genovese story was full of holes, showing that the New York Times, even in the 1960s, was not above putting a good story ahead of the facts.
We don't know the real story yet. The infamous Kitty Genovese story was full of holes, showing that the New York Times, even in the 1960s, was not above putting a good story ahead of the facts.
Apples and oranges. We have a 911 system now - nobody called it. SEPTA employees with their own eyes saw how many passengers were in the train car where a woman was being violently raped by a stranger and none of said passengers did anything about it - it was an employee looking into the car as it went by who called 911, so obviously it wasn’t too hard to tell that something wasn’t right.
The Kitty Genovese story as told in the press was a fabrication, but the facts were very different and I don’t think a fair comparison to this incident can be drawn.
ETA: I would like to believe that I’m a person who would stand up and intervene even at risk to my own life, like the two men who intervened on a train in Portland Oregon and were murdered by the assailant. Not because I have a death wish but because I’d rather risk physical harm than suffer the lifelong humiliation of not having spoken up or acted while someone was being victimized. How hard is it to dial (you don’t even have to dial) 911?
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
Maybe they were just scared. What if it had been consensual sex and the woman just liked it rough anyone who called the police on him would have to call the police on an innocent black man, and that would be racist and a crime. And I understand that the guy gave his consent to be arrested, so he must have thought he hadn't done anything wrong, so she must have led him on. She is probably a racist and should be investigated.
I am playing the devil's advocate.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
I bet the video shows everybody sitting around looking at recording it on their cell phones while this was going on.
FTFY
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
I don't disagree, but then a tape of the incident might be valuable evidence later, so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what some of the people did. I recall when I was a kid (around 8) we were at the gas pumps when a gas station was robbed. We were going somewhere and I had my camera with me, so I took a couple of pictures of the car as it left (it was an armed robbery, and my father almost killed me for doing that). We got the film to the police and, I was led to understand, it helped them track down the robbers. It wouldn't surprise me if someone was too frightend to intervene, but sought to record the event to give to the police.
Intervening can sometimes be dangerous; I recall when I was in college we were in a bar and I, perhaps emboldened by beer, saw a guy bothering a woman (grabbing her while she was pushing him away and loudly telling him to leave her alone. I grabbed the guy and told him to leave her alone, but he turned and smashed a beer bottle on the table (I didn't think you could really do that until I saw it); after a stand off of what seemed like a few years, his friends took him away. I stayed until the bar was closed (I didn't want to get jumped outside) and when I left I saw the guy and woman making out in the parking lot--I think it was just a game to them. I almost had my face slashed with a broken bottle for a stupid game. But, as a human being, I would do it again if the situation presented itself, but I understand how some may not.
SEPTA has almost 18,000 security surveillance cameras on train cars and throughout their facilities and have had them for at least almost a decade, I don’t think that’s news to anyone who rides the trains. All the evidence of the crime necessary is established through SEPTA video and SEPTA employee witness testimony.
Even if the riders thought they were gathering evidence, and even if they were too much in fear to physically intervene, it’s unconscionable that not a single one of them dialed 911.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
I have to agree, someone should have called the police (I assume phones work on SEPTA trains), and it astounds me n one did. I honnestly don't know how someone like could getup the next morning and look at themselves in the mirror.
So people don’t have a right to fear for their own safety? Snitching is a serious offense in the hood.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
She is white; he is black. Who are you going to believe?
Ngoy then raped the woman at 9:52 p.m. before being pulled away from the woman by SEPTA cops. He later told investigators she struck up a conversation with the woman he had seen before, claiming she initiated the sexual encounter and did not stop his advances, the Inquirer reported.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
She is white; he is black. Who are you going to believe?
Funny, I thought people like you would always automatically believe the white person, even *WITHOUT* the surveillance video. But then you also believe that a man's word always trumps that of a woman's... So in a situation like this, I can see how easy it is for your reptilian brain to get overloaded and short-circuit itself.
Ngoy then raped the woman at 9:52 p.m. before being pulled away from the woman by SEPTA cops. He later told investigators she struck up a conversation with the woman he had seen before, claiming she initiated the sexual encounter and did not stop his advances, the Inquirer reported.
This looks like something excerpted from some other source (Rapist's Monthly, for all I know), which you just post without any documentation or provenance ... although I did see nearly-identical wording in an article on the Phildelphia Inquirer website.
At 9:52, documents say, Ngoy raped the woman. He was taken into custody by responding SEPTA officers after the train pulled into the 69th Street stop in Upper Darby.
Ngoy later told police he had seen the woman before and struck up a conversation before kissing and touching her, the documents say. He told investigators she initiated the sexual encounter and did not resist his advances.
And then you wonder why anyone with more than three functioning brain cells dismisses your posts? -"BB"-
Yes, I suppose I could agree with you ... but then we'd both be wrong, wouldn't we?
