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Early Addition
A lawsuit against the MTA is about to go to trial surrounding the rape of a woman on a G train platform in Queens three years ago. And the victim, now 25, told the Daily News this weekend that she forgives her attacker ("I know he was sick in the head"), but not the token booth clerk at the 21st Street station, "I can't forgive those five seconds when I stared into his eyes, screaming for help, imploring him with my tears and all I got back was a cold stare."
The victim's suit, filed two years ago, claims the MTA is negligent for not properly training its subway workers as well as lacking the proper communication tools between a booth and the platform below. As the woman was being attacked, she says not only did the token booth clerk see her yet stay in his booth, but another conductor whose train entered during the attack saw her being assaulted and allowed his train to leave the station. The only action taken by both the clerk and the conductor respectively was to call into their command center for further help.
For his part, the clerk claims he wasn't supposed to leave his booth, according to MTA rules, saying the victim "is very wrong" to blame him, adding, "She doesn't remember a lot of things." When asked in a pre-trial deposition why he didn't try to at least scare away the attacker by informing him that police were on their way, he said, "I did not even think about it." He says that when the woman was taken out of his view to the platform for the ten minutes that followed, he did "nothing really. I was just waiting for the police."
The only positive update to comes since we first reported the attack back in 2005 is that Right Rides, the volunteer organization that offers women, transpeople and gender queer individuals safe rides home late on Saturday nights now serves 35 neighborhoods in four boroughs (as opposed to a small section of Brooklyn and the LES back then). They are always looking for volunteers and sponsors for the Zipcars they send out.
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It's unforgiveable to turn your back on someone being victimized like that. The MTA should be ashamed to have such people in their ranks.
I wonder if the race of the agents, attacker and victim played into this at all. :\
thank god the clerk will get a lifetime pension
thank god
Why did it take the cops 10 minutes to show up?
Yes, that token booth clerk could have done more. Perhaps he was afraid of putting himself in danger--or maybe he just couldn't be bothered.
Sickening.
"It was after 2 a.m. on June 7, 2005, when Maria boarded a Queens-bound G-train. . . Her boyfriend, recovering from surgery, had pleaded with her to come to his apartment. She considered the subway safe."
(1) Never, never ride the subway by yourself at that hour in the morning.
(2) Ditch any boyfriend who asks you to do so.
"Why did it take the cops 10 minutes to show up?"
First because neither of the MTA employees called the police. They called the command center, which than had to relay the report to police. And then, even though the 108 is just a few blocks away, an MTA call about an incident on a platform would first go instead to Transit District 20. A TD unit is covering a bigger area than a normal precinct's sector cars would, so the response time could be expected to be longer.
Mob justice sounds like a good place to start with the token clerk. See how he likes it.
Such a sketchy station. Such a gross act.
this was handled all wrong
the victim "is very wrong" to blame him, adding, "She doesn't remember a lot of things."
I suppose this is why he has appeared before the press. He is so confident of his innocence, so I'm sure he won't mind identifying himself to the general public.
Perhaps karma will deliver the same fate, or at the very least a juicy case of prostate cancer.
I admire the restraint of the victim for not hunting the two clerks down herself. If any of you reading are friends or family with either of these scumbags, I pity you.
shovel-
if you read the old links in the post, it identifies the slime bag mta booth attendant.
"The creep caught up with her and began pulling her down the stairs as a screaming Nicole made eye contact with booth clerk John Koort."
Ah ha! I scanned the current press and it was curiously missing.
Token booth clerks are the worst. Thank god they will soon be replaced by machines.
Once again, gotta love the MTA.
I think it's unforgivable that clerk's actions. He saw she was being attacked, did basically nothing.
And he still works there? He wasn't immediately fired? Also, unsettling. :/
I'm looking more into this Right Rides service, in case I may need it one day. Thanks for the link.
Am I the only person who is bothered by "she forgives her attacker ("I know he was sick in the head")?"
He's the guy who >actually
I guess I'm just cynical. I read this as just going after the deep pockets.
sorry, message got cut off.
He's the guy who ... actually ... attacked her. She would have been attacked to some degree regardless of whether the clerk acted more competently.
Actually, is downright bizarre that she forgives the rapist but not the clerk in the both. Somehow she wants to transfer the guilt of the man who raped her to bystander who didn't intervene. The comments here mostly follow suit, hating the clerk instead of the criminal. I have to wonder, if being "sick in the head" is an excuse for the rapist, why isn't it for the clerk?
I suppose since she feels she can't blame the perpetrator of the crime because of mental illness, she has to find someone to hate. The bystanders are the next best thing.
This is a product of our current values and how today's system makes us second guess from doing the right thing.
it's a matter of "don't want to be bothered"
"I did what I was instructed to do"
otherwise "I" would put myself at risk and that would legally negate any claim for compensation on my own wellbeing...so, there.
...Nevermind the few examples from everyday citizens like that guy who jumped on the subway track to rescue the other guy having a seizure, from being ran over...
or that guy from the murray hill deli who after being slashed himself, came out bringing towels to the woman who got stabbed on the street.
"I have to wonder, if being "sick in the head" is an excuse for the rapist, why isn't it for the clerk?"
Really, you wonder that? Have you thought it through?
Perhaps because the propensity for committing violent crimes is accepted as being abnormal, but the propensity for thinking "I don't want to get involved" is not.
Many people would say that a violent criminal probably has a mental problem. Very few would say the same about someone who sees a crime being committed and chooses simply to call for help rather than to put himself in danger by intervening.
Why do women insist on wearing their ipod headphones in these situations FOR GOD SAKES
And he still works there? He wasn't immediately fired? Also, unsettling.
Thank the union, TWU.
Get used to it, many more workplaces will be unionized after Obama wins and the Employee Free Choice Act is signed into law.
I was mugged at that same train station in 2005 in the middle of the day next to an empty police booth. I think something needs to change.
@ Chris Lee, "Why do women insist on wearing their ipod headphones in these situations FOR GOD SAKES"
They wear them so they can ignore guys who are trying to talk to them. it was pretty effective in this case...
I feel like throwing up after reading that.
If I knew someone who failed to help that person I don't know what I would do. It's off the scale.
"Why do women insist on wearing their ipod headphones in these situations FOR GOD SAKES"
Are you for real? Um, maybe because women enjoy music too. Maybe women want to block out street harassment. Maybe women should have the same basic rights as men--you know, to go outside and listen to music and walk around and be in public spaces.
It's not her fault for wearing headphones. It's the rapist's fault for being a rapist. Why is this difficult to understand? Why do you have to blame women for crimes committed against them?
It's very easy to sit on the internet and lob bombs at people.. it's another to be in the situation. Could the clerk and conductor have done more? Obviously they could have. But in the moment, you don't know if the guy has a weapon, what kind of drugs or mental issues he might have, etc., but you do know that the guys with guns are on the way.
Would you really get involved? Almost all of you will say yes, but when the shit happens, maybe one would actually act aside from calling the police.
@Politburo they sure as fuck could have done more. They are lazy, shiftless sacks of shit who couldn't be bothered to do any more than their job description requires. What kind of human being would just sit there and do nothing? A gutless puke
"Why do women insist on wearing their ipod headphones in these situations FOR GOD SAKES"
Are you for real? Um, maybe because women enjoy music too. Maybe women want to block out street harassment. Maybe women should have the same basic rights as men--you know, to go outside and listen to music and walk around and be in public spaces.
It's not her fault for wearing headphones. It's the rapist's fault for being a rapist. Why is this difficult to understand? Why do you have to blame women for crimes committed against them?"
It's an issue of exercising good judgement and caution. You should be alert to your surroundings. These types of stories always put the peanut gallery in a bind. You SHOUDN'T have to worry about your safety anytime in NYC..but at 2:30 in the AM..she's not hyper aware?