Where was Security when This Went Down

I was thinking about what I wrote about metro security guards and talking with some folks and thinking maybe I had been a little harsh on them. After all it was pointed out to me that just like police they do help to keep us safe in the bus and metro stations. Then I remembered what happened to my wife outside waiting for a bus in Angrignion Metro station in Lasalle.

A young white boy was sporting a lot of what looked to be gold necklaces and surrounding him were three black boys pushing and shoving him and demanding the gold. The boy with the gold was trying to walk away but the other boys were not about to let the score get away. The bus driver in the bus could see what was going on, but kept his door closed and turned his head.

Other people waiting for the bus and walking by, just kept right on walking, pretending not to see this boy in trouble and in need of immediate protection. There is a security and supervisor building at this metro and a group of bus drivers and supervisors just stood there and pretended not to see what was going on. They in fact did not even call for security.

As things progressed from bad to worse for the guy with the gold my wife told the other boys to leave the kid alone and behave themselves. The boys told her where to go and one guy smacked her across the face and shoved her to the ground. The boys ran away, but the bus driver never opened the door and still no one came to help. Not a bus driver, not a man walking by no one.

My wife got to her feet shaken and sore, but with little physical damage. She marched over to the building and asked why no one did anything to help and asked them to call the police. They tried to get her to just go home and forget about it, but she insisted the police being called.

When the police arrived they took statements from the boy and my wife and she went home. Thanks to her description of the punks the boys were apprehended and after she appeared in court they all confessed to assaulting her and robbing the boy.

Our great system of justice accepted a plea bargain for their confessions and these little gangsters got away with probation. What bothered me more though was why not one security guard was there to defend and protect this little boy, or my wife. Why not one bus driver, or supervisor at the very least got on the phone and asked for security.

No my evaluation of the metro security guards was not too harsh. If it was unfair it is because I did not include the rest of the people who work in the metro as well. The bus drivers, supervisors and maintenance people who all stood by while a little boy got beat and robbed and my wife got knocked down trying to help.

No one was ever reprimanded for not calling for security as far as I know, so I guess the practice of ignoring crimes of violence still goes on, while security is busy taking down the dangerous people like little girls and seniors trying to get a free ride.