A woman was allegedly raped on a suburban Philadelphia train last week while police said there were “a lot of people” around who “should have done something.”
Police said they had arrested a man connected to the rape that allegedly happened on a SEPTA El train on Wednesday. Fishton Ngoy, 35, has been charged with rape and several other counts.
According to authorities, the incident was caught on surveillance video that showed bystanders on the train when it happened who “did nothing.”
“Were they watching? I don’t know. Again, we’re still going through the video but there was a lot of people, in my opinion, that should’ve intervened. Somebody should’ve done something. It speaks to where we are in society. Who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling but again, we’re working on that and we’re trying to identify anyone that we saw coming on and off the El at that time,” Upper Darby Police Superintendent Tim Bernhardt said.
The victim was taken to a local hospital, Bernhardt told The Associated Press.
“She’s on the mend,” Bernhardt said. “Hopefully she will get through this.”
Bernhardt, who described the inaction of bystanders as “troubling,” said officers were called to the 69th Street terminal around 10 p.m. Wednesday night after the assault on the train.
“It speaks to where we are in society; I mean, who would allow something like that to take place? So it’s troubling,” said Bernhardt.
SEPTA issued a statement calling it a “horrendous criminal act” and said “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 in a statement that one of its officers called 911.
Commuters who use the train were shocked to hear about the incident. Shane Brown told CBS Philadelphia, “they need more security, they really do. They really need a lot of security because it’s getting bad out here. You can’t even get on the bus.”
According to police the suspect did not know the victim.
