Gang rode the Red and Green lines with a crowbar at rush hour, robbing and beating people, police say

By adamg on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 10:04am

Transit Police report arresting three of the four people they say got on the Red Line at Harvard with a crowbar, then used it to threaten people they beat and robbed on a trip that ended at the Fenway Green Line stop, where they got off a trolley and smashed the crowbar into a person's face before running towards Brookline Thursday afternoon.

Police say they found Parrish Jones, 25, of Dorchester, William Windham, 21, of Brockton and a Dorchester teen too young to have her name released, after an "exhaustive area search." The hunt for the fourth person continues, police say.

Police provided this account of what happened after they responded to Park Street around 5 p.m. on a report of somebody having been attacked and robbed on a Red Line train at Harvard:

The offending group continued to travel to Kenmore Station from Park St where they attacked and robbed another victim while on board a Green Line Trolley. The group allegedly were also threatening several commuters on board the trolley with violence. The marauding group continued to travel to Fenway where they robbed and beat another victim, on the platform, with a crowbar causing facial injuries to the victim. After this assault and robbery the group fled onto the right of way heading in the direction of Brookline.

All three were charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing bodily injury, assault and battery and armed robbery, police say.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

And the MBTA has its very own police force?

By CopleyScott17 on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 10:38am.

How the hell does an armed gang start marauding at Harvard, ride four stops to Park Street, switch platforms and trains, ride six more stops to Fenway, then escape on foot into Brookline? This is an absolute outrage.

These punks are gonna be

By Kinopio on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:20am.

These punks are gonna be sorry they interrupted the transit police afternoon nap time.

It's Getting Old

By John Costello on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:21am.

It is.

I think it’s pretty funny

By emac on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:42am.

(Would you rather a joke about brandishing a gun at motorists while off duty, lying in police reports or overtime fraud? ‘Cause the transit cops do all that too.)

Won’t someone

By dan r on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 1:08pm.

think of the poor, poor police?

You’re such a brave one.

“First they came for the police, and I didn’t speak up, because I’m not police, and it would be a reduction to absurdity to call the police”

I dunno

By Waquiot on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 2:27pm.

I think everyone is aware that I'm usually the first one to call out Kinopio's numerous boorish comments, but he's got I point with this one. If riders aren't safe at rush hour, if there couldn't have been a response between Harvard and Park, it's fair to ponder where the Transit Police were napping at the time.

I've seen the T stop trains to get police into position to arrest someone. Didn't happen with this crew.

Spoken

By Bostonperson on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 8:56pm.

Like someone from a nice cushy part of the world who has never been in harm’s way. There’s a number of empty bike lanes out there that need your attention.

They were able to ride the

By _Sean on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 10:38am.

They were able to ride the red line to Park Street, then transfer to the D-line and ride it all the way out to Fenway without getting caught...during rush hour?!? That ride must've taken at least 40 minutes! This should be extremely embarrassing to both MBTA & Transit Police.

FYI, everyone should get the MBTA See Say app on their phones. It allows you to quietly report (& take pics) of anything inappropriate happening on MBTA. I can't vouch for the response time and it's sad we apparently need it...but good to have.

Thank you for that.

By CopleyScott17 on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:11am.

Had never heard of that app before, but just installed it. Not sure the MBTA has done a very good job promoting it

The T has a lot of problems attracting ridership

By anon on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 10:39am.

The green line Goblins robbing and beating passengers won't help. The term TERROR TRAINS does not inspire confidence in an already unsafe system.

WTAF

By cybah on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 10:51am.

What the actual fuck people? DURING RUSH HOUR?!?

What has gotten into people lately? A friend of mine was punched on the T a few months ago by some fine urban youth looking for trouble. He did nothing to proke the attack either.

This seems to be happening more and more. And not just on the T. Its everywhere now.

I've been riding the T for 25 years and only until recently have I felt unsafe riding after certain hours. Nice to know this will be extended into rush hour times now.

And yeah.. where was TPD on this. They were able to go thru a major transportation hub at rush hour and no one noticed the crowbar?

For those of us who remember Bernie Goetz...

By CopleyScott17 on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:07am.

...it's deja vu, scary and sad. It's only a matter of time before it happens again. Incident like this are the most effective recruitment tool for MAGAts

I had to look him up

By cybah on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:20am.

OMG. Yeah I totally could see this happening again. Temperatures are high on these people and it wouldn't take much to get them to pop like this.

Wikipedia has a long write up about this guy. Interesting read

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting

That was 38 years ago?

By John Costello on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:31am.

I am getting old. It was a Beastie Boys lyric five years later.

I have noticed South Station is getting a wee randy. I was harassed at 8:10 yesterday morning for change by someone who could not have been more than 25. After a very polite but stern "FUCK OFF" from me before he started freaking out because someone wasn't nice to him.

One Amtrak officer on the platform chatting away and a 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper posted by CVS saying "You Behave Or We Will Throw Away The Key" isn't having much effect on the Guardian Angels era NYC T.

South Station

By MassMouse on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:41am.

Yes, I have noticed the same thing when I travel through there for the commuter rail. Definite uptick of panhandlers. Being there at night is a bit sketchy.

You're confused why somebody

By ZachAndTired on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:42am.

You're confused why somebody got mad at you for telling them to fuck off? What is wrong with you?

I Am Not Confused At All.

By John Costello on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 12:01pm.

Actually, it was fun.

Piss off asking me for money for your habit first thing in the morning.

How would you like it if I went up to you and started harassing you at South Station for your money so I could buy Sox tickets or pay my kids tuition?

Also

By Michael on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:47am.

One of the four people mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" that's still alive (Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, Brigitte Bardot). This is what lives in my brain instead of information that could make me any money...

Surprised that Chubby is still living

By Gary C on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 12:48pm.

Fun Fact: Did you know that his stage name is word-play on the earlier singer Fats Domino?

There was also a guy who took

By ZachAndTired on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 2:20pm.

There was also a guy who took it one step further and called himself Tubby Chess.

What is the temperature

By Bostonperson on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 2:32pm.

In the neighborhoods that consistently experience shootings on a weekly basis?

If you get shot using a crowbar to injure and rob people, that’s on you. You deserve zero defense from the law. A crowbar can easily be used as a deadly weapon and one does not have to swing it that hard to kill another person, regardless of intent.

Oh yeah

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 9:45pm.

Let's start shooting guns on crowded trains.

Sure thing.

Urban cosplay cowboy worships guns, but don't know shit about them.

So?

By robo on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:11pm.

What’s your solution?

Well

By Bostonperson on Fri, 01/20/2023 - 12:49pm.

I’m not saying people should just start shooting up crowded trains at the first sign of a problem. However, if a person is beating someone with a crowbar, continues going after others with what can easily be used as a deadly weapon, and then gets shot by a person looking to prevent a possible murder, well, great. That person saved others from injury or death by a psychopath and is a hero. I’m pretty sure if someone was beating a friend or family member or even a stranger sitting next to you with a crowbar, you’d be thankful that someone else was there to stop them, regardless of how they did it.

and remember his cultural inspiration, Death Wish, 48 years ago

By deselby on Sat, 01/14/2023 - 6:21am.

The score by Herbie Hancock is great

The actor who played one of the subway muggers, John Herzfeld, had a successful writing and directing career.

The movie was called fascist, like Dirty Harry. Reflected a big run-up in crime in that era.

"where was TPD on this"

By anon on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:13am.

Where is the TPD any day, any line, any time? I don't know. On my Red Line trips I see BPD presence approximately zero percent of the time.

I only go into the office 3

By anon on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 12:35pm.

I only go into the office 3 days per week now but take the T from Ashmont to South Station. Rush hour on certain days like Monday and Friday are very far from their pre-covid highs for ridership. Even the busier days aren't very busy at rush hour. So trains and even places like South Station, are relatively empty which gives an opening for animals like this crew.

I've taken the T for close to 40 years and this is the first time I can recall being concerned for my safety on a regular basis. I totally get why more people are driving and paying crazy rates to park given my experience on the T but I'm not ready to make the switch at the moment.

Reporters at a competing news organization discovered in 1964 that the Times article was inconsistent with the facts, but they were unwilling at the time to challenge Times editor Abe Rosenthal. In 2007, an article in the American Psychologist found "no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive".[8] In 2016, the Times called its own reporting "flawed", stating that the original story "grossly exaggerated the number of witnesses and what they had perceived"

More likely in this MBTA case that many people called the police and they didn't arrive promptly.