Photo: Jay Wescott

The D.C. police 5th District message board has been abuzz today over an incident at the Brookland Metro station around midnight Sunday morning. In his message to MPD and other residents, the victim downplayed the incident as mere rowdiness on the part of kids, but to us it sounds more like a legitimate assault:

I was tackled by some rowdy high school aged kids at the Brookland metro who were fooling around. They were trying to intimidate me prior to this by yelling in my face as I left the escalators on the 10th street side of the station, where the bus stops are. After this, some followed me a bit and one guy jumped on me from behind and put his arm across the front of my neck before releasing once I was on the ground, while still within the station. Earlier some of the group--which may be more than one group, there were over a dozen people--were also messing with a young lady who was trying to run up a broken escalator to catch a train--tripping her and getting in her way--and some jumped fare gates and knocked stuff down with in the station.

Tackling strangers, tripping women who are running for the train -- those hilarious little rascals! What's their next wacky prank? Choking people as they pass through fare gates?

It's telling that the discussion of this Metro assault takes place on an MPD message board (as well as the Brookland listserv), where any officers privy to the dialogue have no say on safety issues within train stations. That's part of the reason why so many residents are uneasy when it comes to Metro and crime. Ask yourself: Can you name the WMATA chief of transit police? Do you see any particular transit officers on a regular basis? Would you even know where to go if you wanted to raise concerns about Metro safety?

The department would probably inspire a lot more confidence if it made itself known. Last we checked, the number for transit police wasn't even to be found on Metro trains.