About two weeks ago there was an incident on a New Haven Line train where a train conductor was attacked. I had heard about it, but was surprised when I checked out Bobby’s blog, Derailed, where he discusses the incident. Bobby is a train conductor on the New Haven Line, and I’m a big fan of his stories. Apparently the incident actually happened on his train. Three young women attempted to ride with apparently faked tickets, and police were called. The police were to meet the train at a later stop, however, the women were preventing the train from leaving, by getting on and off, and stopping the doors from closing. When one of the female conductors approached the women, she was attacked, resulting in several broken fingers, in addition to bruises and scratches. Security camera images of the women leaving the train were released to the media, and apparently the three women were identified, and arrested last night.

Security camera images released by the MTA, the three suspects leave the train laughing after attacking a train conductor

Shaquana Minott, 18, of Bridgeport, and another girl, 17, of Stamford were charged with assault on a public transit worker, a class C felony. Jaria Hargrove, 18, of Stamford, was charged with forgery and larceny, in relation to the faked ticket. More information about their arrest can be found here.

I sincerely hope that these girls don’t merely get a slap on the wrist. All of the trains have those signs that say attacking a train conductor is a felony… and I would hope that those signs aren’t all “talk”.