“Is it safe?” This is one of the most iconic Hollywood movie quotes ever made, uttered by the sadistic dentist, Dr. Christian Szell, a secret Nazi war criminal character in the 1976 film Marathon Man. (A great film, but I digress). Is it safe is an apropos question for anyone riding SEPTA transit.
On June 17, 2022, I was arbitrarily attacked by a homeless drug addict at the SEPTA 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby, PA. While on my way to commute to work in Philadelphia, at the foot of SEPTA’s transportation center overpass, a ranting 30- ish white male ran up to me (an African American senior citizen) and spit in my face! Hate crime? To be determined. I instinctively punched him in the face, and a brutal fight ensued. When I was knocked to the ground, the vagrant drug addict grabbed my cell phone and backpack and tried to run off, but when I pursued him, he turned and pulled a knife and tried to stab me!
I, a senior citizen, shouldn’t have to deal with the threat of losing my life because of the lax policies and policing SEPTA currently has in place. If not for the fast response of the Upper Darby Police Department, my ordeal surely could have ended with me senselessly being murdered that day.
SEPTA has a transit police station on-site at its 69th Street Transportation Center, and the transit police are required to actively patrol the facility.
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