Prosecutor Casts Doubt on Account of Train Passengers Not Intervening in Rape

MEDIA, Pa. — A week aft a antheral was charged with raping a pistillate connected a bid extracurricular Philadelphia, the section authoritative formed doubts connected archetypal accounts fixed by instrumentality enforcement authorities that different passengers had been “callously sitting there” arsenic the battle happened.

“There is simply a communicative retired determination that radical sat connected the El train, and watched this transpire and took videos of it for their ain gratification,” the prosecutor, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer of Delaware County, said astatine a quality league connected Thursday. “That is simply not existent — it did not happen.”

The aboriginal characterization was countered by information video, Mr. Stollsteimer said, though helium acknowledged that lone 1 idiosyncratic had travel guardant to picture what happened that night, leaving overmuch astir the witnesser effect to the battle unknown.

Over the weekend, instrumentality enforcement officials announced the apprehension of Fiston Ngoy, 35, who was charged with sexually assaulting and raping a rider connected a bid traveling from Philadelphia to its suburbs connected Oct. 13. Among the astir egregious aspects of the crime, officials said, was that chap passengers saw the onslaught and did nothing, immoderate adjacent filming it connected their phones.

“I’m appalled by those who did thing to assistance this woman,” Timothy Bernhardt, the superintendent of the Upper Darby Township Police Department, said connected Sunday. “Anybody that was connected that bid has to look successful the reflector and inquire wherefore they didn’t intervene oregon wherefore they didn’t bash something.”

But connected Thursday, with Mr. Bernhardt lasting astatine his side, Mr. Stollsteimer described that communicative arsenic “misinformation” that was scaring disconnected imaginable witnesses. He emphasized that determination was nary instrumentality successful Pennsylvania that would let the prosecution of witnesses “for nonaccomplishment to intervene,” and further argued that it was a mischaracterization of what had happened.

“People successful this portion are not successful my experience, truthful inhuman — callous quality beings that they’re going to beryllium determination and conscionable ticker this happen,” said Mr. Stollsteimer, whose begetter worked for SEPTA, arsenic the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is called, and was erstwhile the supervisor of the terminal wherever Mr. Ngoy was arrested.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Mr. Ngoy boarded the bid astatine 9:16 p.m. and sat down adjacent to the victim, who had conscionable boarded arsenic well. Within minutes, the affidavit said, helium began trying to grope her arsenic she continuously pushed him away. The affidavit is vague astir what took spot implicit the adjacent half-hour, but says that astatine 9:52 p.m., Mr. Ngoy removed the victim’s pants and his ain and began raping her. A transit serviceman came into the car astir six minutes aboriginal and pulled Mr. Ngoy disconnected the victim, who was taken to a hospital.

Officials person said determination were astir 10 radical successful the car erstwhile the rape occurred. It was unclear whether the unfortunate made signals of distress that could beryllium seen oregon heard by others; among the charges Mr. Ngoy is facing are counts of raping an unconscious person. The territory lawyer declined to qualify the circumstances of the transgression but did accidental it was “not needfully existent that immoderate 1 idiosyncratic who’s getting connected the bid is going to cognize precisely what’s going on.” This was why, helium went on, the authorities were seeking much witnesses.

“Two people, we think, whitethorn person really videotaped, utilizing their telephones,” Mr. Stollsteimer said. One of those videos was turned implicit to instrumentality enforcement and 1 of the radical taking the videos, helium said, “probably was the 1 who made the anonymous extremity that alerted the SEPTA Police Department.”

This seems to diverge from earlier authoritative accounts, successful which it was an off-duty SEPTA worker who had been connected the bid and alerted dispatch to what a SEPTA spokesperson described arsenic “inappropriate activity.”

Mr. Stollsteimer blamed the communicative connected the quality media and astatine 1 constituent connected SEPTA officials.

“We basal by what we said before,” Andrew Busch, a spokesperson for SEPTA, said. “We truly privation to travel retired of this highlighting the request for radical to telephone if they spot thing that doesn’t look right.”

After the quality league connected Thursday, Mr. Bernhardt besides stood by his earlier remarks.

“What I committed to astatine the time, and perpetrate to now, is that determination were radical getting successful and getting disconnected that I thought could person intervened and done something,” helium said. “Now that doesn’t mean they were sitting determination filming it, but arsenic the territory lawyer said, determination were plentifulness of radical getting connected and disconnected that witnessed it. Now what they witnessed oregon what they thought, I don’t know, due to the fact that we haven’t been capable to talk with them.”

Mr. Ngoy, who is being held astatine the Delaware County Jail successful lieu of $180,000 bail, has a grounds of arrests, including a condemnation of misdemeanor battle for grabbing women. A autochthonal of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to tribunal records, helium has overstayed a U.S. pupil visa and fought past attempts astatine deportation.

A nationalist defender successful Delaware County acknowledged that Mr. Ngoy was a lawsuit but declined to remark further.

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.